Max Steel: Redux
by UKHoneyB
Summary: College student, amateur extreme sports enthusiast, adopted son of N-Tek's CEO. Thanks to an accident, nineteen year old Josh McGrath becomes superhero/secret agent Max Steel, battling terrorists and working with others at INTEC to try and save the world (or at least, keep their own little part safe).
1. Chapter 1

A/N: A reworking of my Max Steel: Redux story. Apologies to all who had the old version favourited or added to their alerts, but I feel much happier with this one, and I'm writing along at a much faster pace than previously.

Chapter One

"Keep a check on that, we don't want any more people in than necessary!" Mairot ordered, keeping a close eye on the other agents in the room. It was controlled chaos with more people in the room than he had ever seen before - a good number stuck to screens, viewing and re-viewing security videos,. The rest were hurrying about, bringing various files and documents to and from different people, looking as harassed and well-worn as he likely did. He paced around the room slowly, taking in as much information as he could; he reached Zuzanna's desk within a matter of moments, looking over the new agent's shoulder at the images on her screen.

"What's the status?" he asked, causing Zuzanna to jump in shock and quickly turn around to face him.

"Still unknown, sir. We've had no visual contact with either of the break-ins for ten minutes." She held her gaze steady, trying not to show how anxious she was. After a couple of moments she turned back to her screen, rewinding and reviewing the security footage - she was observing the corridors around the labs, the last place the people who broke in had been visible on camera. As Mairot watched the replay he saw one of the break-ins walking towards the lab, followed a few minutes later by the second one, running to catch up.

Seeing nothing else of interest, Mairot turned away to review information some other people may have received; however, as he did, the one-eared heatset at Zuzanna's desk crackled to life, a female voice echoing throughout the now-silent room.

"Sigma, this is Castle."

Zuzanna hurriedly grabbed the heatset and placed it in to her ear, pressing a key on the keyboard and pausing the replay she was watching.

"Sigma here," Zuzanna said, fully aware that all eyes were now on her. "What's your status?"

"Heading down to the nanotech lab. Confirm, this was the last reported visual contact of the break-ins?"

"That's confirmed, Castle."

[ - ]

Rachel, codename Castle, closed the communication between herself and Zuzanna back at 'base'. She and the agents she was with were just at the entrance to the nanoprobe lab, the door slightly ajar but not enough to see into the room with.

Wordlessly, she positioned herself at the side of the doorway, gesturing to one of her team to go first. He shifted his gun from both hands to one hand, using his now-free hand to push open the door. After he stepped through and disappeared from view, Castle began to mentally count off the seconds - if it was too long before he returned or made any kind of aural reference, they were to assume the break-ins were still in the room and act accordingly.

However, that wasn't to be the case - barely twenty seconds after Rachel started counting the agent backed out, a look of shock on his face, the door automatically closing behind him.

"There's, uh..." he began, but failed to finish off his sentence. "No danger," he managed to add and Castle walked towards him, switching her gun to one hand and gently pressing a hand on his chest to get him to move out of the way. She used her still-free hand to push open the door and step through the now-open doorway.

She swallowed an oath as she saw the situation in front of her - the main tank of nanoprobes was empty, shattered, and pools of the suspension fluid were spread all over the room. She took a hasty step forwards, positioning herself in a so-far clean spot of the room and grabbed the radio again. As she called in, she scanned the rest of the lab, just in case.

"Sigma, this is Castle. Nanotech lab is in need of a hazmat team. I repeat, nanotech-" she abruptly cut off as she spotted something deeper into the lab, lying in the largest puddle of suspension fluid. She let go of the radio, letting it fall to its natural position, and began taking some more cautious steps towards whatever it was.

"Castle? Castle, this is Sigma, do you copy?" Castle ignored the frantic words being emitted from the radio and instead grabbed her flashlight, turning it on and letting it pass over the object lying in the suspension fluid. The fluid glowed an eerie, almost radioactive green, and Castle had a moment of ironic thinking before she fully saw what was in the middle of the room.

"Castle here. Nanotech lab is in need of a hazmat team. Nanotech lab is also in need of a medical team, suited up in hazmat gear also."

"Roger that, Castle."

With the request sent, Castle continued her venture into the lab. She got close enough to the person to be able to discern more of his features but ignored him for the time being, instead using her flashlight to scan the rest of the lab, trying to discern what may have occurred in the room. The lab, for various reasons, didn't have any kind of security footage, only in the corridor on the outside.

Unable to see what may have occurred, Castle returned to looking over the person, stepping cautiously across a puddle of suspension fluid and moving the flashlight up to illuminate the person's face.

As she did so, she cursed. Loudly and unladylike. She knew exactly who this person was; suspected that anyone who was a Del Oro native or had worked for INTEC for any amount of time would.

The person laying in the middle of the suspension fluid was Josh McGrath, local amateur sports star...and the son of INTEC's CEO, Jefferson Smith.

[ - ]

One hour earlier

Late June offered nice, cool weather in Del Oro - not the high temperatures some other places were experiencing. It did necessitate a jacket or some other kind of reasonably warm clothing, though, especially when standing in the shadow of a tall and imposing building like N-Tek's main office on Nitro Island.

Josh was waiting outside, wandering aimlessly across Nitro Island while he waited for his father to finish work - the receptionist at the main entrance had offered Josh the opportunity to wait inside, but after ten minutes Josh had gotten anxious and overly energetic and stepped out for a quick walk.

That quick walk had lasted almost forty minutes, putting him thirty minutes late for his meeting with his father. Well, technically it wasn't Josh that was late, but his aforementioned father. Being the CEO of N-Tek, even at the very young age of forty-seven, meant a lot of work, shifted responsibilities, and broken promises. Josh didn't remember a time when Jefferson /wasn't/ busy with some kind of work or another, especially as Jefferson had also been the CEO for as long as Josh remembered.

Jefferson was the one to suggest their meeting - a family dinner and a nice, quiet chat about life and various events that wouldn't be interrupted by work (or so Josh had dared to hope). They didn't get many of those (again, thanks to work) but Jefferson had promised that he would be present for this one: the only thing that would stop him would be an emergency on a massive scale.

Josh scuffed the ground with his shoe, kicking a small pebble across the ground and tumbling down off the side of the island and into the tumultuous ocean below. Normally the meetings with his father went well, but this wasn't one Josh was looking forward to. He'd not been doing as well as he normally did at college, so he'd either have to cover for himself and lie about his grades, or say what was going on and face his father's wrath.

Wrath wasn't the right word - Jefferson Smith didn't get angry, but he did get disappointed, and when (how and time to be decided later) he found out Josh was pulling below-average grades for one of his classes? Now /that/ was something to be disappointed about.

Josh flumped to the ground, leaning back and looking straight up at the night sky. Thanks to the light pollution from nearby Del Oro, not to mention the masses of lights still on at N-Tek, it wasn't possible to see many stars even on an exceptionally clear night like it was that night, but it was possible to see /some/.

The waning gibbous moon also gave off a lot of light, also dimming the potential of the stars around it, but Josh didn't mind too much about that. Instead, he just looked up to the sky, trying to reference the names of constellations and their positions in the night sky. He'd been taught some when he was younger, and one of his very first memories was Jim taking him out into the back garden one night and pointing out the various stars, but...

Josh bolted upright and looked around, craning his neck to see behind him. He wasn't imagining it - the dome on the top of N-Tek, connected to the main building by means of a rather long antenna-like construction, had all of its light cut out. As Josh kept his focus on the building he saw the other lights all go out section by section - almost comical if he wasn't sitting there wondering why the lights were going out.

He stood up and glanced across the bay, trying to see how many lights were still on there, and was shocked when he saw that they were /all/ still on. N-Tek island was connected to the mainland's electricity network, so any power cuts would affect them as well. Josh also knew that N-Tek had its own back-up generators in case of an emergency - nothing major but enough power to enable everyone to be aware of a power cut and suspend all electronic and computer work which required mains power. For N-Tek to be in the middle of a black-out and nothing else affected was a mystery.

Josh took another glance back towards N-Tek, seeing a dark figure moving across the now-dark grass surrounding the building. He frowned, taking only a microsecond of thinking time before he set off running across the island to where the figure was heading. Josh kept an eye on the person, altering his course as and when he could, and his frown deepened when he realised the other person was heading for the back of the building - nothing there but gardening equipment.

As Josh approached the back of the building, curving around so that the doorway to the gardening shed would be in front of him, he saw the other person grab the handle of the door and fling it back. The slim piece of metal which was the door ripped off its hinges, flying backwards. Josh took a few steps to the side, watching the door only to ensure that as it flew past him it wouldn't hit him.

Josh slowed his pace to a job, having more time to think about both his actions and the actions of the other person. What could someone steal from a gardening shed - gas and fertiliser? More to the point, how would they get it back across the bay? The only ways off the island were limited to employees only (the underground car park) or simply didn't run at this time of night (the ferries) - why trek over to the island to steal cheap items that you'd likely need to wait until morning to take back to the mainland?

He reached the now eternally open door, peering into the darkness - he couldn't see much, but what he could see indicated that the shelves near the door were still upright and had all the items they were supposed to. He backed up a step and looked at the security panel by the door - somehow it was getting power, as evidenced by all the sparks it was shooting out. It had been half-ripped off from the wall, exposing wires and contacts which were the source of all the sparks. He took a second to ponder about a third source of power, one to keep the security panels running, but pushed it from his mind - he had to find that intruder first.

Josh walked past the panel and stepped in to the gardening shed, taking a moment to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness. It wasn't too much darker than outside, but the vague shapes he currently saw would make it quite difficult to navigate if he didn't allow his eyes time to adjust, and he didn't want to alert the intruder to his presence by knocking over row upon row of items, sending them all crashing down noisily to the floor.

Once his eyes had adjusted he walked forwards, casting glances at the rows of shelves and items, noting that nothing appeared to be missing. The gardening shed wasn't that large but it was quite maze-like with all the various shelves everywhere, and after a few minutes with no sign of the intruder Josh wondered where he had gone. He pressed forwards, still; there was no other entrance or exit to the gardening shed so, eventually, he should come across the intruder.

After a couple of minutes, Josh got lucky - he heard the sound of doors sliding shut. Not thinking about why there would be sliding doors in the gardening shed he hurried towards the sound, moving quicker but still walking.

"...Why is there an elevator in the gardening shed?" Josh muttered to himself as he found himself in front of the offending item. There were, in fact, two elevators, one waiting at the level of the gardening shed and the other merrily making its way down into the underground level of N-Tek, something which Josh didn't even think existed.

Like with the security panel outside the gardening shed, the security panel next to the elevator was also ripped off and shooting sparks. The elevators themselves were illuminated, gaining enough power to work...or so Josh hoped as he stepped in to the second one, pressing the only button available. It was unmarked, as if anyone who used these elevators would know where they were going, and Josh released a nervous breath as the doors slid shut and the elevator began its descent.

[ - ]

Being quite late at night, the promenade on Del Oro Bay was reasonably empty; although there were quite a few couples and some children around the main sound was one of the ocean waves crashing against the cliff face. The distance between the road and walkways and the ocean was much smaller here than down further towards the south of Del Oro; high enough so that barely any storms came close to flooding the area but low enough to allow people to venture down the stairs to the long stretch of sandy beaches Del Oro offered.

"This was nice," Jake said, looking over at Rachel with a small smile. The two of them were among the scattering if people walking down the promenade, hand in hand.

"It was," Rachel said, returning the smile. "Not often we both have the same day - or evening - off work."

"One of the perils of the job."

"Don't I know it," Rachel muttered under her breath; however, when she looked over at Jake his expression showed that he'd heard what she had said. "I didn't mean it like that, Jake. I enjoy work, find what we do meaningful, just -"

"Wish we didn't have to do it so often?"

"Yes."

The two of them stopped by the side of the promenade, Jake leaning over the railings slightly and looking towards Nitro island; Rachel leaning against the railing, arms across her chest and keeping a watch out for any suspicious activity. Despite being off-duty, they both still kept a sense of caution, not wanting anything untoward to happen without them noting it.

"Rachel," Jake said, causing her to turn around in his direction. "N-Tek's caught in a black-out."

"That's not -" Rachel glanced around at where they were. Still in broad bright light, not even a flicker on the street lights to indicate any kind of power cut or dip. "N-Tek shouldn't be affected. Not this quickly."

"No, it shouldn't." Mere seconds after Jake finished speaking, his pager began to beep. Pulling it out from his shirt pocket he looked at the message on the screen.

_EMRNTKASAP_

Emergency - report to INTEC as soon as possible

"You put yourself down as a reserve contact for tonight?" Rachel said, a little annoyed.

"Jon asked me to - he's not had any time off for two months." Jake slipped his pager back into his pocket. "Let's go."

[ - ]

The elevator slowly reached the bottom-most floor (or, at least, the lowest it'd go down to) and, a few seconds after ensuring the bottom of the elevator was aligned with the floor outside, the doors slid open. Hesitantly, Josh stepped out of the elevator and into the underground passageway, a section of N-Tek he had never even known about, least of all suspected.

The whole area in front of him was corridors and walkways - open plan and light and airy, or at least it would have been if there was anything other than metal and vibrant, intense lighting. Looking up, Josh saw at least three levels of walkways with the floor made of metal grates and the railings just two simple lines stretching from one end of the walkway to the other. Numerous red lights were dotted around, sending everything into an odd, eerie red glow whenever they hit or reflected off something.

If Josh strained his ears, he could just about hear the sounds of sirens blaring - either this place was exceedingly well soundproofed or the sirens were for something occurring much further in than Josh was.

He took a couple more steps forwards before abruptly hearing the sounds of multiple footfalls rapidly approaching, and before too long he found himself surrounded by multiple people - at least six by his count. Every one of them had guns - regular, standard handguns, but guns nonetheless and something which could definitely cause a lot of damage. A minute later another person arrived; this one without a gun and by the way he carried himself he looked to be in charge of this group.

Josh saw one of the people pointing a gun at him lower it, move over to the newcomer, and caught the sound of her whispering something, but not the words actually said. Not that it mattered, as a few moments later he got a good indication of just what they'd said.

"Doesn't matter. Cuff him anyway. Can't take the risk."

Josh, confused by what had been said, didn't have time to react to the next set of actions and quickly found himself, rather unkindly, spun around and slammed back towards the elevator - the doors were now closed so he hit the metal rather hard and face-on. Whoever had slammed him against the elevator doors held onto him tightly. Distantly, Josh could hear the click of the guns being readied, but all he could think of was "how does this place even exist?".

A second person approached Josh and grabbed his wrists tightly.

"You need cuffs?"

The person behind Josh snorted. "No. Let's go."

The two people keeping a hold of Josh turned him around and they, along with all the other people, began to walk deep into the labyrinth of corridors and walkways underneath N-Tek. The people kept their guns trained on Josh, leaving him no escape route even if he wanted to; in truth, Josh _wanted _them to take him wherever; maybe then he could find out just what was going on.

[ - ]

Rachel and Jake had driven back to Nitro Island as fast as they were legally allowed to after receiving the page; Jake because he was on backup duty and Rachel because she was curious and wanted to know what was going on. They had parked in N-Tek's underground car park and taken one of the elevators up to the main entrance area; from there, they'd gone through the INTEC-only access, through the first layer of security and into the surveillance room.

Despite the hour and how little time had passed since Jake had gotten the text, there were still a fair few agents around - Jake greeted them while Rachel headed straight for the woman sitting at the main bank of monitors.

"Status," Rachel ordered.

"Uh, yes, well. We had a break-in recorded fifteen minutes ago: two men, one approximately in his thirties and one in his late teens or early twenties. They got in through access to the gardening shed."

"How?"

"Ripped off the access panel and then the door."

Rachel frowned, thinking. "Pull up the pictures. Put them on the main screen."

"Sure," the other woman said, typing up a few commands to bring the respective images up on the main screen behind her, displaying them split-screen with one image on the left and one on the right. She swivelled her chair around once done and pointed to the image on the left when she was still again.

"This one was the first recorded break in, the one aged in his thirties. We don't have a clear shot of his face, though, so he's going to be difficult to ID. This one, however," she said, turning to point at the one on the right. "Was our second break in. We got lucky and have a very clear shot of his face and -" The woman paused as Rachel held up a hand.

"Do you know who the one on the right is?"

"Uh...the second person to break in?"

"Is that a question or a statement?"

"I'm...not really sure."

Rachel sighed. "That person on the right is Josh McGrath."

At the sound of the name, a couple of the other agents in the room (Jake included) looked in Rachel's direction, a little uncomfortable at that news. A few more, though, were just confused, including the woman Rachel had been talking to.

"Josh McGrath is the adopted son of Jefferson Smith; INTEC's CEO," Rachel said, earning her looks of shock and fear from the rest of the agents. "What is he doing here?" she muttered to herself, turning back to look at the grainy still on the screen.

[ - ]

Josh had been led through the corridors and walkways for what felt like an age, and he was beginning to wonder if they were just making him walk around the same paths for laughs. It was only when they paused next to an open, heavy-set door that Josh was certain he hadn't seen before that he knew that wasn't completely true.

The person who had been holding on to Josh's wrists (causing his hands to go pretty numb, thank you whoever you are) let go and before Josh could really register this he was shoved through the open doorway, stumbling across the flooring as he tried to regain his balance.

Balance regained, he allowed himself a quick look around the room. It was large and empty, two things which categorised most things he had seen so far, but sitting in the middle of the room was another person. His mouth and eyebrows were set in a permanent grimace, a thin scar running from under his chin, along his jawline and extending up past the ears to the hairline. Some wrinkles on his face, but no grey hairs, and he had his hands cuffed behind his back.

The other person caught Josh looking at him and his grimace deepened. Josh quickly looked away, trying to pretend like he hadn't been looking, but it was too late. However, before anything could occur, one of the agents who had surrounded Josh walked into the room. He lowered, then holstered his gun, evidently assuming the two people in the room to be no thread (and, as Josh noted, with the other break-in in handcuffs, there likely wouldn't be any trouble).

The guard picked up his walkie-talkie and began speaking into it, relaying information. He kept his eyes on Josh the whole time he was talking.

"Seraphim here. Yes, we've got them both. One approximately mid-thirties, one late teens to early twenties." A long pause in which 'Seraphim' focused his gaze more on Josh. "Yes, I'm certain. No mistaking it." Another pause, this one shorter than the other. Seraphim seemed to relax, taking a step towards Josh and the other person. "All right, I'll -"

The other person leapt forwards, grabbed Seraphim and slammed him to the ground with a painful-sounding whack. A moment passed with Seraphim laying still on the ground - Josh could just about see him breathing so knew he was still alive, but beyond that he could do nothing.

The other person stood up, dusting himself off lightly, and without even a backwards glance began to walk out of the room. Josh stood there for a moment, watching him leave, before coming to his senses. A quick scan of the room revealed a pair of broken handcuffs lying on the metal floor, and a quick check of Seraphim revealed him to be breathing and with a strong pulse.

Josh debated with himself - should he chase after the other person, or stay here - but after a small amount of deliberation there was no choice.

Josh set off at a jog, chasing after the intruder.

[ - ]

Rachel and Jake - as well as a number of other agents - slowly but cautiously made their way down to the lower levels of INTEC. Rachel took point, gun gripped securely in her hand as she descended the open-air walkway. They were already on level L2, with three more to go until they hit the laboratory - so far there had been no signs of any kind of disruption, let alone any hint of where the two people who'd broken in were.

Rachel hit the floor of L2 and quickly gave non-verbal commands to the agents in front of her to do a quick sweep of the surrounding area. The group behind her broke off, forming smaller groups comprised of two or three people, and began to head off. Rachel and a couple of other agents stayed where they were, scanning the area while the other agents were absent.

Before too long, the agents began returning, shaking their heads in response to Rachel's unasked question: no one around. She signalled all of them to move down to the next floor, aware of how long it was taking them but, as they didn't know where the intruders were, it was better to spend extra time searching everywhere than just heading straight down to L5 and potentially missing them.

A couple more sweeps, one on L3 and one on L4, also turned up nothing, so before too long the group of agents his L5; as with all the other, previous levels, there was nothing around to suggest anything of any kind had occurred. As before, Rachel was on point, directing agents towards every direction, and she faintly overheard two of them having a brief discussion.

"Why couldn't we just get the elevator down, much easier to do so."

"You heard Leeds; we need to make sure there aren't any people hiding around in the upper levels. Still, why is there an elevator leading from the outside to here? Doesn't that make it a tad nonsensical?"

"Security reasons. Lab threatens to blow up, scientists can escape easily."

Rachel ignored them as one of the muttered about stairs, and instead turned around to see the last of the agents still with her. "Everyone else, with me. We'll be covering the far end. Stay close." Rachel readjusted her grip on the gun and once again took the lead, the last of the agents falling in step behind her. They made quick progress heading past the other areas all the other agents were checking, but slowed down when they hit the far end of the corridor, almost right up against where the elevators were (both currently out of commission thanks to a little 'technical' interference).

The first few rooms they scanned were empty - just big, empty rooms used for temporary storage of experiments and the like, and not even remnants of past experiments remained.

The door to the fourth room was open, and upon looking in Rachel and the other agents immediately saw why - Angel Grantham was laying in the middle of the room, seemingly unconscious. Without prompting, one of the agents beside Rachel rushed forwards, half-falling to the ground and pressing a couple of fingers against Grantham's neck, checking for a pulse. As Rachel walked up, she nodded and Rachel grabbed her walkie-talkie.

"Sigma, this is Castle. Requesting a medical team. Angel is unconscious but breathing and with a pulse. Location L5, R17." Rachel clicked off the walkie-talkie and the other agent stood up, satisfied that Grantham was going to be okay. The two other agents who had stayed behind fell in to place when Rachel walked out of the room - they were starting to get an idea of what had happened, but they were still no closer to finding the intruders.

[ - ]

Josh hurried through the corridors of N-Tek, vividly aware of the noise he was making as he ran along the metal grates - however, that wasn't something he could reasonably change, and anyway, the intruder knew about him and likely was aware that someone (if not him) was likely to come after him soon, especially as that one person seemed to radio in for assistance.

He rounded the corner to find a small set of stairs leading down; he took them two at a time, absent thoughts filtering through his head as he did so. This place was massive; even if this was the only floor (which Josh very much doubted) it still sprawled across at least the space of the N-Tek building above ground. How much did his father know about this? It was certainly a secret to him, and he'd been experiencing at least some of the work N-Tek had been doing since he was fourteen - was this all a secret to his father, or...

Josh slowed to a halt, catching an odd, green glow from the corner of his eye and backtracked a little. The corridor area he was in was full of doors, all of them heavy-duty and with security panels beside them (what kind of work did they do here? Even the top secret projects up above didn't require so much security), yet one of them was open just enough for a faint but eerie green glow to be seen from the corridor area.

Josh paused by the slightly-open door, wondering what his next move should be. A twinge from his right shoulder necessitated him rolling it (the people who had forced him in to the temporary holding area had forced it at an odd angle), but after a few more seconds Josh decided to go for it and opened the door, slipping into the room.

Almost immediately, Josh could see at least some reason as to why all the rooms had such stringent security measures. There was table upon table with computer upon computer lining the outer walls of the room; those that didn't have computers instead had various scientific and scientific-looking instruments, and some of those had piles of paper tucked underneath. On some desks where the papers weren't secured, there were some on top of the tables, but more on the various chairs scattered around, and also the floor, as if someone had been hastily looking for something and just swept them aside.

Of course, the computers and scientific instruments and the potentially-important papers weren't the things which tripped Josh's mind into thinking there was a good reason for all the security features.

No, the main item in the room was a huge tank filled with a viscous, green substance. The tank was easily a good eight feet tall, if not more. Surrounding the tank was a hexagonal desk with more scientific instruments and papers on it.

In front of the tank was the intruder from before - next to him was a couple of canisters also filled with the green substance. Josh wondered if they were there previously before when the intruder placed a third canister on the table and started filling up a fourth.

Josh hesitated - he wasn't at all stealthy in his approach, so the intruder had to know he was there. Instead, he took his time filling up the canisters, not worried about what was going to happen.

Josh clenched his fists - whatever was going on here, whatever kind of knowledge his dad had about it, he couldn't stand by and let some random stranger steal...whatever it was he was stealing. He crept up on the intruder as silently as he could and, when he was within touching distance, aimed a well-placed kick in the intruder's back.

The intruder was sent sprawling forwards, the canister he was holding dropping to the floor, its contents spilling everywhere. The intruder took a moment to regain his footing (why, Josh wondered, when he hadn't even hit him that hard), but the look that Josh got when the intruder did finally turn around and face him was not one Josh ever wanted to see directed at him. At least, not at that point of his life.

[ - ]

Rachel found herself standing pretty much in the middle of the layout of L5, watching the majority of the other agents searching around. They'd still yet to find anything, and for some of the agents their patience was wearing thin. Rachel had radioed back to the surveillance room but had received no new information - Zuzanna confirmed there had been no more new footage of either of the intruders, and double-confirmed that, given their last known position, there was little chance that both of them would pass by the agents undetected.

Jake had cut off from Rachel's group a while ago, taking approximately half the agents and scanning the floor from the other end. The elevators were now working again, allowing Jake's group easier access to some of the other floors - because of that, he'd sent some of the agents under his command down to the lower levels. They'd also been communicating via their walkie-talkies and keeping each other informed briefly, but on this occasion Jake had instead opted to send one of the agents under his command, Travis Murtaugh, with an update.

Rachel tried to not look surprised or confused as the young agent quickly made his way towards her; instead, she did her best to maintain a neutral expression.

"I'm sorry, Leeds," Travis said as soon as he was within earshot. "Nez sent me; we've still found no signs of either of the intruders. It's quite possible they got away."

At that news, Rachel frowned - if they had gotten away it would have been a very quick escape, especially with the numerous INTEC agents everywhere. She glanced over her shoulder; she still had three agents with her, and after a moment's consideration she began speaking.

"Cherabi, Antebi, Ramirez. Scour the whole floor, make sure nothing is left unsearched. There's a slim chance the intruders have escaped, but I still want the whole place covered. Murtaugh," she added, turning to look at Travis. "You're with me."

Rachel and Travis waited a few moments for the other three agents to head off before they turned down one of the currently-empty corridors.

[ - ]

The intruder glared at Josh as he slowly and menacingly walked towards him. The canister was long forgotten, the green substance slowly trickling out of the container and onto the floor, causing a thin but large puddle of a green, almost gel-like substance.

Despite instincts telling him otherwise, Josh clenched his fists and stood his ground...something which, when Josh found himself flying through the air, may not have been the best idea. The intruder had backhanded Josh with such strength that the teen was knocked off his feet and sent flying across the room. Thankfully, the door was open otherwise Josh would have found himself knocked against it; as it was, he was still sent flying for a good distance.

Josh struggled to his feet, realising that the intruder hadn't actually moved since his backhand. He considered this for a second before finding his balance again and rushing towards the intruder. Josh readied a kick, but the intruder simply swatted him away with all the effort as if he was just an annoying insect.

As before, Josh was sent flying, but this time in the opposite direction. He hit something hard, back first, sending a shock of pain down his spine - however, that was dwarfed by the ominous cracking sound he heard a few seconds later. Josh dropped to the ground, winded and in pain, and the intruder gave him a quick look before turning away and beginning to head out of the room.

Struggling to get up, Josh winced as his back protested against the movement, he could have sworn he heard the intruder snort a quick laugh, but paid no attention. Instead, once Josh was certain he was on good footing, he rushed forwards for one more last-ditch attempt. The intruder, having heard Josh running towards him, turned around. Josh aimed a high jump kick for the intruder's face, hoping that maybe an injury there would slow him down a little; the intruder, expecting simply a repeat of the previous attack, was caught off balance and unable to block.

As Josh's foot connected with the intruder's face, the toe of his sneaker caught on...something. Something which he saw fly away across the room, but paid no heed to it.

Because the intruder's face had just been ripped off.

Expecting to see nerves, tendons, and bone, Josh was doubly off-guard when he saw what the intruder's face was actually made up of - metal and plastic. The whole of the face where bones would be on a typical person was instead fully metal, connected with some rivets and joints for the lower jaw. The plastic he saw was for the ears and teeth - translucent but still present.

Either the intruder didn't notice (largely unlikely) or he didn't care (much, much more likely) that his face had been ripped off. Instead, he focused Josh with another glare, his 'eyes' being a pair of red LEDs which flashed menacingly. The intruder took a step towards Josh, slamming him back with his right arm and sending Josh hurtling back towards the tank. The impact, along with his already received injures, was enough to cause Josh to black out for a few moments.

When Josh regained consciousness, he was only just aware that the intruder had disappeared. What was taking the most focus was the intense, agonising pain he was in; he was covered in the green substance, the tank behind him having split open (whether from the force of his second impact or something else he wasn't able to dedicate enough focus towards), pouring it all over the floor and Josh himself.

Gritting his teeth, trying not to scream, Josh tried to move forwards, to pull himself away from the substance. However, be barely managed to crawl a few steps before another wave of agony hit him, this one so intense he _did_ scream. He barely managed one more step before he collapsed, falling in to unconsciousness again.

[ - ]

Rachel and Travis, there being only two of them in their search party, made quick time. Everywhere else on L5 had been searched and the extra agents were split between heading back up to the surveillance room in order to scan out for the night, or following Rachel and Travis' progress through the last remaining side corridor.

Rachel had had a bad feeling as soon as she stepped into the corridor - this one led down to the more dangerous and unpredictable experiments INTEC sometimes operated. For a long while, from when Rachel had joined up until a couple of years ago, this whole section had been sealed off - no point in wasting time and energy on making an area suitable when it wasn't going to be used.

However, a couple of years ago the whole area had been re-opened and people shuffled towards working on the new experiment or being hired, under INTEC employment, to be a part of developing the new technology - nanoprobes.

Rachel shot a glance over her shoulder, making a note of how far away the other agents were - quite a distance, she noted. She and Travis were scanning down the corridor, heading for the distant-most door first and working their way back. With other agents searching from the opposite direction, it would mean that anyone still hiding out was caught between two sets of agents.

As Rachel and Travis progressed through the corridor, Rachel noticed that one of the doors up ahead was open; unusual when all the others had been closed. Wordlessly, she beckoned over one of the other agents, verbally instructing him to go on ahead to the end of the corridor. Once he and another agent had passed by, a couple more joined Rachel and Travis at the entrance of the room, slightly curious as to what was going on.

Rachel positioned herself at the side of the doorway, holding her gun firmly in one hand. She looked over to Travis and gestured for him to go through the door first - in any other situation she'd take point, but heading into a room with a potentially unknown assailant was not the kind of situation a field commander took point on.

Travis looked a little apprehensive, but stepped forwards, shifting his gun from a two-handed hold to one, using his now-free hand to push open the door wide enough to allow him to slip inside.

Not even twenty seconds later, he backed out of the room with a look of shock on his face, the door slowly shutting once he was back in the corridor.

"There's, uh..." he began, but failed to finish off his sentence. "No danger," he managed to add, still looking incredibly pale. Rachel shifted her gun to a one-handed hold and gently pushed Travis out of the way of the door. She pushed the door open and stepped through, almost immediately resuming her two-handed hold on the gun, quickly sweeping across the room to make sure there'd be no one who could sneak up.

She swallowed an oath as soon as she got a good look at the room, though - this was the main nanoprobe lab, normally exceedingly well-secured against intrusion (whether accidental or intentional), but from the surroundings it didn't look like those security measures were all that successful.

The main tank of probes, normally taking pride of place in the centre of the room, had been shattered and its contents emptied all over the floor, pools of suspension fluid lying everywhere. Rachel took a quick note that if she had stepped forwards much farther that she, too, would be on the call list for a medical team. She took a cautious step forwards, doing her best to avoid touching any of the suspension fluid, and headed towards a largely clear section of the room. Once there, she picked up her radio and called in what she saw.

"Sigma, this is Castle. Nanotech lab is in need of a hazmat team. I repeat, nanotech -" She abruptly stopped mid-sentence, leaving the person on the other end to start questioning if everything was okay. She didn't have the time to waste - as her eyes had adjusted to the gloom of the lab she'd noticed something other than the suspension fluid on the floor. She let go of the radio, letting it fall to its natural position, and instead began taking more cautious steps towards the object.

"Castle? Castle, this is Sigma, do you copy?"

Rachel ignored the command, instead grabbing her flashlight and turning it on. Almost immediately the suspension fluid for the probes glowed an eerie green, giving everything a sickly glow. As the light passed over the object on the floor, she got a much better look at it - rather than just an object, she could see it was a person.

"Castle here. Nanotech lab is in need of a hazmat team. Nanotech lab is also in need of a medical team, suited up in hazmat gear."

"Roger that, Castle."

Request set, Rachel continued stepping forwards the person. She got close enough to begin to be able to discern the features of the person, but ignored him, instead focusing in on the room. She sent quick glances to the rest of the room, trying to picture together what had happened. Two people breaking in, one left in this room, but aside from the broken tank she couldn't see many other signs of any kind of disruption.

The lab didn't have security cameras installed for various reasons (one of which was the covert nature of some of the experiments done down here) so there'd be no way to know the exact details.

Rachel was now as close to the fallen person as the suspension fluid would allow her and she knelt down, still holding the flashlight in her hand. She held it up to illuminate his face, and let out a curse which she was sure would be heard by the agents still waiting outside the room.

Josh McGrath. Unfortunately not the intruder they were wanting to find, but still one able to shed some light on to the whole situation. That is, if he ever regained consciousness before he died.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Jefferson Smith was in his office, pacing around and ever so gradually losing patience. He, as the CEO, was one of the first points of contact for any emergencies occurring at INTEC (something which he had insisted on after the explosion fifteen years ago)...however, as the CEO he was also too valuable a person to lead any kind of effort on the reconnaissance.

As such, since his arrival at INTEC he had been limited to his office ( "For your own good, sir," one of the agents had said to him before locking the office door from the outside) with clear directions on an emergency escape route continually circling through his mind, just in case. For added security, he was in the "N-Tek" office, rather than his typical one; the typical one was underground while the "N-Tek" one was on the second floor which made it slightly easier to get out in the case of an emergency - another thing which had been implemented fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years ago, Jefferson Smith wasn't the first point of contact for emergencies; no, fifteen years ago he was a division chief, the Director of Operations. He'd been at home, on a rare night off (on the then-CEO, Marco Nathanson's insistence) when the call had come in. When it had, it was far too late for Jefferson to do anything; scenes of the N-Tek building in flames were plastered all over the local television news and print news for a good few weeks as people tried to figure out what had transpired that day, leaning only towards a planted explosive - no motivation, no suspect.

With neither of those two things, the criminal investigation ground to a halt, and the events became a distant memory for most people in Del Oro, ranked around the same order of importance as Marco Nathanson buying the land and building the current N-Tek building there in the sixties.

However, for a small number of people, that night dramatically changed their lives.

Jim McGrath was one of thankfully only a handful of agents who died in the explosion. Jefferson had later found out that his best friend wasn't even on call that night; he just popped over to check how things were going and, unfortunately, got caught in the deadly blast.

One of the other people caught in the blast was Marco Nathanson - or at least, that's what police reports and years of what people thought said. He disappeared that night and was never found - there were some theories that he was right at the epicentre and the intense heat had burned his body into an unrecognisable mass (given the state of the area where the bomb had gone off, it wasn't impossible).

Being Director of Operations, Jefferson Smith was effectively Marco's right-hand man, and Marco had already begun prepping Jefferson to become CEO, although Jefferson had thought that event years, likely decades away. Given that the explosion left N-Tek without a CEO, the board of directors (for the civilian side of the company) had held an emergency meeting and unanimously declared Jefferson Smith to be the new CEO, at least temporarily. Jefferson felt quite adrift during his first few months, especially as he was only thirty-two at the time of his rather massive promotion, but as time went on he began to get the hang of things; the promised review and selection of N-Tek's new CEO, one thing always talked about in those first few months, never arose and Jefferson continued to be the CEO.

Jim's death made Josh an orphan - Molly's death two years prior had forced Jim to majorly update his will, which he had made after his first mission and was updated at every needed opportunity or major life event (getting married, Josh being born, Molly dying). In the will, Jim had named Jefferson, his best friend, as Josh's legal guardian should anything happen to him.

As Jefferson was mulling over these points, he didn't notice the main door to his office open until someone slinked through with an exceedingly nervous expression on his face. Jefferson cast a quick look over at the person - a new hire, only been working at the company for a few months, but he'd be damned if he remembered his name, or even what section he worked for. Things were simpler when he was still an agent, or even the Director of Operations - fewer people to know, fewer agents to remember.

The new employee made his way hesitantly over to the middle of the room, positioning himself just behind the desk where Jefferson was currently pacing around. As the employee got close, Jefferson stopped pacing and instead focused a look on the employee who, now, looked like he'd barely be able to keep his lunch - no, dinner, Jefferson amended, after sneaking a quick look at the clock.

The employee looked more nervous than Jefferson had ever seen before, and being the CEO he had encountered a lot of people in various, numerous circumstances. The employee cleared his throat...and again...fiddled with the ends of his shirt...and finally got the courage to speak what he had come here to say.

"Mr. Jefferson, sir. The security breach was triggered by two people. The agents were called in at the earliest opportunity, but we weren't able to apprehend the main suspect - the first one who broke in.

"We found the second suspect in the laboratory complex on L5; he was lying in a pool of nanotech suspension fluid. Ms. Leeds radioed in a medical team and they are currently working on him in the medical bay. The current news is..." the agent faltered, swallowing loudly and, if possible, looking even more nervous than before.

"What are you not saying?"

"The second suspect, the one found in the suspension fluid...is Josh McGrath, sir."

[ - ]

Jefferson Smith, thirty two, had just received some of the most devastating news he would ever think he would receive. His apartment was a long way away from N-Tek island, so even if he looked out the window he doubted he would be able to see anything; if he had the fortune to be closer to the island, however, he suspected he'd be able to see the giant flames licking the structure of the main N-Tek building, see the black plumes of smoke curling skywards, and smell the acrid, charred smell that always accompanied fires.

"Are you certain?" he said, gripping the phone receiver tightly. He'd paced as far as the cord would let him go (already stretched to long lengths) and was trying to peer out onto the streets to see if he could see any kind of emergency services rushing to the aid of the people at N-Tek. For once, he cursed the fact that it was on an island - that meant longer response times, less chance of finding someone still alive, especially if they went through the underground tunnel system; just how was a fire engine meant to put out a fire from three floors below?

"Positive, Mr. Smith," Marco Nathanson's secretary said in response. Being his secretary offered her a lot of benefits, one including that she was one of the first people to be alerted in case of an emergency, Marco being the first. "I cannot contact Marco Nathanson at all; he's not answering any method of communication."

"Did he say anything to you recently? Anything at all?"

"Nothing. I'm sorry, Mr. Smith."

Without giving her the courtesy of a goodbye, Jefferson hung up. Debating with himself, he walked over to the front door, grabbed his keys which he always placed in the same spot, and hurried out of his apartment. Even if he couldn't get close, he'd still be able to see some of what was going on.

[ - ]

Within twenty minutes, Jefferson was with a long line of people huddled behind security measures, all looking at the fast-burning N-Tek building. The people there were of all various ages and backgrounds; some who lived close enough to see the blaze from their houses and come to investigate; some who had relatives work at N-Tek (and Jefferson hoped he wouldn't be telling them that said relative had died soon); some who were just enjoying the evening, perhaps walking or driving by and stopped when they saw the fire.

"Everyone, please, we're going to need you to stand back," one of the firefighters said as she approached the crowd, doing her best to get them to follow her commands. Almost reluctantly the crowd shuffled back, making some room on the road, but Jefferson stayed where he was.

"Excuse me, I need to know: what happened here?" Jefferson pleaded. The woman looked at him, seemingly almost ready to deny any knowledge and order him back with the other people, but she relented.

"I don't know. We get called in to investigate a bomb threat and the next thing we know, the building's been blown up before we can even get a chance to investigate." She turned around to look at the situation quickly. "There's no way we can get there in a fast enough time to do anything - coast guard will be running an emergency ferry when they can get everything together, but until then..."

Jefferson didn't need to ask for any clarification; he already knew. Had known since the first moment he'd been called in the middle of the evening to hear Patricia's voice. Reluctantly, he turned around and walked back to the gathered crowds, no more knowledgeable about the situation than he had been five minutes ago.

He waited in the crowds for a few more minutes, seeing another fire truck approach the verge but, with N-Tek on an island, it could do little but wait there until the ferry came along. With one, last long look at the burning building, Jefferson began to head home.

[ - ]

The bombing at N-Tek was front page on the newspaper and the main headline on the local morning news broadcast, as if anything else were to be expected. While the news that it was a bombing was well known, the motives and casualties were less well known to the general public.

To Jefferson, however, he had a long list of all those confirmed dead, injured, or considered missing - Patricia had faxed them over early that morning, when reports were confirmed. Jefferson was thankful that the list was exceedingly short, but not so thankful when he saw two names on the list.

Marco Nathanson - Missing

Jim McGrath - Dead

His best friend and his boss.

He'd allowed himself some time to let the fact that they were among the list before he needed to start thinking, realistically, about how all the various situations were going to occur.

Well, the first situation needed to be taken care of: Jim dying had left his son, Josh, an orphan. Barely two years ago Jim had called up Jefferson and asked about being a named guardian to Josh in his will - this was only a few days after Molly, Jim's wife, had died, and so Jefferson didn't initially pay it any heed. Jim had a few relatives who would be able to take care of Josh, he thought, and probably much better suited than a single black man living in a tiny little apartment.

However, Jim had been persistent, and when he had explained all the various reasons _why_ he'd decided to choose Jefferson, the latter had to admit that he did have some good reasons.

He still thought Josh would be better off with a biological relation, but Jim was hearing none of it.

Still, being named Josh's legal guardian meant that he was now legally responsible for the boy - however, he was not looking forward to trying to explain to him why his father wasn't ever coming home.

[ - ]

Josh opened his eyes with great difficulty; it felt like someone had snuck in and attached heavy weights to his eyelids while he slept. That, combined with the blinding whiteness of the room he was in, meant that they only stayed open for a few seconds before he closed them again.

When he next woke up he was slightly less exhausted - still worn out, but able to spend a bit more time awake and looking around his surroundings. The brilliant whiteness of the room led him to one conclusion: he was in hospital. For Josh, hospitals were almost like a second home to him with all the time he spent in them: even before he was adopted by Jefferson he'd had vague memories of being in hospital a couple of times.

He managed to lift his head up enough to glance around the room, but found that none of the furnishings in the room looked familiar to him. He'd been in enough scrapes and accidents to have the wards local to Del Oro be familiar to him, but there was nothing about this place that was ringing true. He'd only been in hospital a few months ago; a simple trick had turned into a mis-timed trick on the vert ramp, which turned into a sprained wrist and a possible concussion, forcing the doctors to decide to keep him in for observation overnight, just in case.

Jefferson had been busy at work (as always), but had managed to quickly dash in when he heard the news. However, he'd only been able to whisk in and check that Josh was okay and there was no seemingly permanent damage before he informed Josh he needed to head out again, back to work doing who knows what.

Josh slumped back down onto the bed, looking back up at the ceiling and trying to remember just what had happened. He remembered following the intruder into N-Tek and along the corridors, but the memories were quite fuzzy and indistinct, not helped by the fact that some of them were overlayed with a green glow.

As he pondered, a door opened and someone walked into the room. Josh's hopes of getting someone to explain where he was and what happened fast disappeared, being replaced by fear and horror: the person who'd walked in was in a full hazmat suit. The only time he'd ever seen one was on films and television, and when they brought those in? The news was never good.

Josh took a few moments to get his thoughts together, trying to figure out ways to say "what happened?" and "where am I?" without sounding too panicked, but before he could the person in the hazmat suit spoke.

"It's good to see you're awake, Josh. However, the news isn't all good. The green fluid we found you in was suspension fluid for a project we call Nanotech MX. Nanotech MX are microscopic machines capable of constructing copies of themselves out of atoms - they are self-building robots.

"We had intended for the MX probes to be simply used in mechanical constructions. We did do biological tests but they were failures; we had to halt them after cellular tests because we found that the cells could not continue to sustain themselves after having the MX probes integrated into them."

"Wh-what does this mean for me?" Josh asked. He was confused - nothing the person in the hazmat suit was saying made much sense to him. Microscopic machines? Cellular integration? Maybe if he wasn't waking up confused to begin with he'd understand, but the fact that the person in the hazmat suit hesitate before they answered said an awful lot.

"We've taken blood and skin samples while you were sleeping. The concentration of MX probes in your system is far, far higher than the concentrations in the cellular tests."

"Can't you remove them...somehow?"

"We cannot. It is impossible to get the MX probes out once they've integrated with a person's system. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for you."

"'Do for me?' What do you mean by that?"

"You're dying. Slowly but surely."

[ - ]

Jefferson made his way down to the medical centre area of INTEC - almost a necessity with the type of covert business they were in, although they did use local hospitals as and when they could (largely when they could avoid any specific questions about how such an injury occurred, or when they could explain it away with a typical accident).

As he passed various agents and scientists, most of them looked up to see who it was then averted their eyes when they recognised him. No one wanted to cross Jefferson, not now, and also for the scientists no one wanted to give him the specific details of his son's accident.

Before too long, Jefferson reached the room his son was in - he'd previously been in level four of the quarantine section but was now in one of the regular rooms after it had been ascertained that there was no danger to anyone but Josh himself.

Still, it was a pretty nerve wracking experience for them both, and Jefferson took a quick, calming breath before opening the door to Josh's room.

"Hey Dad," Josh said with a small smile as he saw his father enter the room. "What's happening out there in the big, wide world?"

Jefferson said nothing in reply, but instead grabbed a chair and placed it near Josh's hospital bed. He had no idea how to explain any of this - no idea at all. He would have thought that fifteen years of parenting would prepare him for the occasional awkward, painful conversation, but it didn't.

"Given the recent circumstances, I think it's a good idea to let you know just what I - and other people - do here at INTEC."

"Okay..." Josh looked at his father, a little confused.

"The sports company N-Tek is a front for a counter-terrorism organization called INTEC - international counter-terrorism. That person you encountered was, naturally, a terrorist."

"A terrorist? What did he want?" Despite the fact that it was odd occurrence after odd occurrence, Josh fixed his mind on the potential of the terrorist - at least there, he suspected, he'd get some answers.

"We're assuming he wanted the nanotech MX probes, and we suspect that he succeeded. However, the probes are almost worthless without the necessary research, and we're pretty certain that the terrorist escaped before he could take a copy. Unfortunately, you got caught in the crossfire and..."

"I ended up here," Josh finished, sinking back down into the bed. A terrorist? The person he was trying to stop was a _terrorist_. Wait, did that mean..."Did...was Big Jim a secret agent too? You've said you two were best friends while working here. Was he...?"

"Yes, your biological father was an agent at INTEC. So was I, at one point, before I got promoted up."

Josh hesitated before he asked his next question, but it was one he needed to know. "Was that why he was killed? Was he on a mission?"

"Josh..." Jefferson took a deep breath. "Your father was scheduled to have the day off when he died. I don't know why, but he decided to head in to INTEC that evening. He was quite close to the blast radius when the bomb went off."

"Do you know why that bomb went off?"

"No."

The two sat in uncomfortable silence for some time, Josh processing all the information he had been given. INTEC, a counterterrorism organisation, his dad - _both _dads - working for it. It was almost too much to take in, but considering the events of the past day it wasn't too unexpected to Josh. After all, he had doubted that the whole underground complex was a secret from his father.

"How long has INTEC been around? It's got to be a pretty long time if you and Jim were agents here."

Jefferson smiled wanly, all of the recent events seeming to catch up with him at that very moment. "I think we've discussed enough for now. Get some rest, Josh," he added, standing up and beginning to head out of the room. Josh settled back onto the bed, looking up at the now all too familiar ceiling and continued to process his thoughts and all the information given.

[ - ]

As expected by everyone, Josh's condition was deteriorating rapidly. He was hooked up to an oxygen tank, heart monitor, and various other items of medical equipment, some of which Jefferson had never seen in his life and thus didn't know the function of.

The probes, bereft of any kind of decent and obvious energy source, were turning on both themselves and Josh's body, finding and tearing out energy whenever and wherever they could find it. Because of the potential hazards Josh had been moved back in to quarantine, this time starting at level two, but would be monitored and moved later if the situation called for it.

Josh had had numerous doctors investigating his situation, and many more scientists and engineers also working to see if they could find any help or solution for Josh, even if it was just to ease his pain and suffering until he passed away.

Doctor Berto Martinez, eighteen years old and only working for INTEC for a few months, was one of those engineers. He was one of the people hired on to help develop the nanotech MX program, and so was likely to be one of the best-placed people, of them all, to find any kind of loophole or 'cure' for Josh's condition, but so far there was precious little he could find.

He sighed and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose once again. He was crowded into his little office, an average sized desk squeezed in amongst a number of others, a faint desk lamp offering him light as he read and re-read the medical summary on Josh the doctors had put together.

As stated by its name, the medical summary was only brief on details, only giving out the main information someone would need to understand the situation. In among all the charts and data points was someone, not much older than Berto, who was steadily dying.

Berto grabbed a highlighter, not noticing that his actions caused the cup it was in to topple over and spill all the rest of the contents over the desk; no, he was too involved in the documentation to notice anything like that. Unusually for him, he'd also holed himself up in the office for hours simply studying the document - he was fond of his food and had only missed a meal a couple of times since he had started work at INTEC, and both of those times was when he was super-focused on a project.

Finishing the summary, Berto flicked back to the first page and re-read it for the umpteenth time, this time highlighting key words or phrases as he went. He glanced up quickly as the door to the room opened, but returned to his work without so much as acknowledging the person or even recognising who it was that walked across the room and was now standing in front of his desk.

"New report," Jessica Palmieri said, placing the sheet of paper on the desk. Berto didn't acknowledge her, still focused on the medical summary, and when a few minutes had passed and Jessica knew that Berto was oblivious to everything, she walked out of the room.

Without looking away from the summary, Berto reached over and grabbed the new sheet of information Jessica had left. It was nothing major, simply an addition to what he was reading, detailing Josh's condition as of nine PM.

Wait, nine PM?

Berto tore himself away from the pieces of paper and glanced up at the clock on the wall. Sure enough, it was almost ten-twenty PM and Berto had been reviewing the information for at least three hours non-stop.

He stood up, stretched a little, then sat back down and continued reviewing the information, this time focusing on the new information first.

The probes had started arcing now, sending sparks of transphasic energy in the air in the hopes that they might catch some extra information. The arcing was unexpected, catching everyone in the room at that time off-guard, and Josh was in the middle of being transferred to quarantine level four now.

In all the chaos and confusion Josh had also ended up with a broken arm - no one had seen how or why, so the mystery remained. There were reports of people in pain causing themselves an injury to focus on the new pain rather than the old - it was possible that Josh, in his half-conscious state, had done just that, but it was equally possible that it had just been an accident.

Josh's time was fast running out.

With a heavy sigh, Berto returned to highlighting sections in the two documents, hoping against hope that he'd find something, _anything_ to help him.

[ - ]

The probes were reaching their limits. The arcing, which they had started the previous night, was now reaching critical mass - not a second went by without some arching of transphasic energy on Josh's body, and everyone was re-suited in hazmat gear just in case an errant arc hit someone, potentially allowing nanoprobes to enter into their system as well. However, when an active arcing period was occurring, no one was let in the room for fear that the probes could jump through the hazmat suits - it hadn't happened previously, but no one wanted to risk it.

In any other situation, the arcing of the probes wouldn't be too much of an issue - the extra energy they were using up in order to find a new source would simply be replenished in time, but in a human body that was a much different matter. The arcing was using up energy, meaning that it was shortening the limited time Josh had to live. Overnight Josh had slipped into a coma, unconscious and oblivious to what was going on around him.

Josh was currently in an active arcing period, leaving Jefferson to watch from outside the room, through the tiny window installed in the thick door. Because it was quarantine level four, the amount that Jefferson was able to see was much reduced, there being a decontamination room in between the corridor and the room Josh was in.

Jefferson heard the footsteps of someone quickly approaching, but paid little attention, his majority focus being on Josh.

The 'someone' was Berto Martinez, hurrying through the corridors of the medical area and holding a rather large folder filled with various notes and pages upon pages of documentation. He turned the corner and saw Jefferson Smith standing at the doorway of the quarantine room, hesitated, then made to double-back on himself.

"Doctor Martinez, I didn't expect to see you down here."

"No, sir. I was just...getting some documents to assess the situation," he added, holding up the bulging file.

"Has anyone found anything?"

"Nothing specific," Berto said, cautiously walking up to stand beside Jefferson. Moments later, he felt that to be the wrong choice as Jefferson turned to look at him, a mix of pain and anger in his eyes.

"Then tell me what you know that is not specific."

"Well, I...you see..._¿cómo explicar esta?_ We may, _may_, have found something but we're not, uh...well..._que podría ser capaz de salvar a su hijo._"

"Doctor Martinez. I don't speak Spanish, and I don't appreciate jumbled information. Tell me, _slowly and in English_, what you know."

Berto took a breath, trying to calm and compose himself. This wasn't just him speaking to the boss and saying about a small window of hope. This was him talking to the boss and saying about a small window of hope for his son.

"The MX probes feed off transphasic energy. Being integrated with Josh's system, they've been deprived of that energy and have been turning to Josh's system to find a viable substitute - the mitochondria largely, but the probes in the state they're currently in will take any energy source they can find.

"My hypothesis is that, if we can give Josh a large enough dose of transphasic energy then the probes will feed off that instead, allowing them to work with Josh's biological system, instead of against it."

For the first time in days, Jefferson looked hopeful, and Berto mentally kicked himself.

"However," Berto hastily added, before Jefferson could start giving orders for Josh to be dosed with transphasic energy _right now_. "Transphasic energy is highly radioactive. We could save Josh from dying because the probes are battling his system for energy only to have him die of radiation poisoning or, later down the line, experience cancers due to the radiation he will be exposed to. There is also the potential that the probes will burn through the energy too fast; once that is gone, they could become more aggressive against Josh's system, killing him sooner than if we did nothing at all."

Jefferson considered all the information Berto had given him. What wouldn't he give to let Josh have a fighting chance...but was it really a fighting chance if they saved him now, only for something else to kill him later?

Jefferson turned back to look at Berto, seeing the fear and apprehension in the young scientist's eyes.

"Do it."

[ - ]

Thankfully, mere hours after Jefferson gave his go-ahead to Berto, the arcing of the probes had ceased temporarily, allowing the scientists and engineers to put their initial plan into action. They had been debating about how best to shield the pathway from the quarantine zone to the transphasic generator when the call came in about Josh, and no one had hesitated or argued about whether this was the best time to try out Berto's hypothesis.

A section in the generator had been carved out, allowing Josh to sit in the middle while the generator created the transphasic energy. Typically it was an access path, automatically shut off whenever the generator was running, but a couple of modifications had left it open for their access.

Berto watched the scene unfolding from his position in the control booth - as the one who'd come up with the idea (as well as being one of the scientists working on the probe research and also the transphasic energy), he'd been given pride of position there, and he only hoped that it would be worth it.

One of the doctors wheeled in Josh, barely breathing, deathly pale and - thankfully - still unconscious into the room, securing him in the agreed position and quickly leading the room. From where Berto was sitting, Josh looked tiny, surrounded by tons of machinery. His broken arm was in a cast, and Berto idly wondered how many other injuries he'd sustain before this was all over.

_Madre de Dios, por favor..._Berto thought to himself, sending up a quick prayer that everything would be okay...or, if it wasn't, that Josh would have a quick and painless death.

The door opened behind Berto and he swivelled around in his chair to see who it was; Jessica Palmieri, the scientist who'd handed him the new information on Josh's condition the previous day.

"Hey Berto, how're you doing?" Jessica said by way of greeting, pulling out the chair next to Berto and sitting down in it. She scooted a little closer, glancing over the information Berto had displayed on the screen in front of him. "Everything looks good here." She stood up briefly, standing on her toes in order to see out of the windows and down to the floor of the transphasic generator room before sitting back down. "And everything looks good there."

"_Si, muy bueno,_" Berto muttered unenthusiastically.

"Si, _muy bueno,_" Jessica replied with force, looking at Berto. "If Josh dies here, it won't be your fault."

"It feels like it will be. I've gone over all the documentation and tested again and again. I'm certain that the probes will be fine when exposed to transphasic energy and Josh will survive this, but I don't know how his body...himself...is going to react to all the extreme radiation."

Jessica scooted her chair even closer to Berto's, placing a hand on his shoulder when she was close enough. Berto, a little surprised, looked at her for a second before turning to stare back at the screen.

"Whatever happens here, you're giving Josh more time to live. You're giving us, and yourself, more time to figure out an alternate method to save his life."

"Or a slower, less painful death, but still a death. We don't know how well this will work."

"I thought you said Josh would survive this part," Jessica said with a smile; Berto briefly returned it before the two separated and the door opened once again. The two of them looked over to see who it was; Elena Yevshenko, one of the doctors employed at INTEC. She was one of the longest-employed doctors there, having been hired on soon after the medical section was added in; still, in terms of actual employment she only had about half the years on someone like Jefferson Smith.

Speaking of, Jefferson was the second person to walk into the room, quickly closing the door behind him. He looked harangued, exhausted, and neither Berto nor Jessica blamed him for that - being the CEO was exhausting enough, but trying to find a way to save his son from an almost impossible condition must have weighed even harder on him.

Berto and Jessica scooted back to their respective consoles, fingers flying over keyboards as they entered in or brought up various data, schematics, and information which they would, could, or might need during the whole process. The two of them exchanged short phrases in Spanish before Jessica leaned over, flicked a couple of switches, and looked at Berto.

Berto closed his eyes, muttering the same prayer again, before leaning over and pressing a button on the intercom.

"Transphasic generator sequence commences. T-minus one minute. All personnel are instructed to retreat to a safe distance from the radiation; anyone who suspects they may have been exposed to the radiation is instructed to make their way to the medical bay as soon as feasibly possible."

There was no rush of people out of the generator, no rush of people up the stairs to the control booth - anyone who was in the danger zone was either well away from it, or put in there deliberately. Berto allowed himself one last glance at Josh while the timer countdown on the computer screen in front of him decreased.

Thirty seconds. Twenty. Ten...

Berto took a calm, steadying breath to relax his nerves; when a person slipped their hand into his he jumped a little, but looked over to see Jessica giving him a reassuring smile.

"T-minus five, four, three, two..." Berto counted down, reaching over for the activation button when the countdown hit three seconds. As soon as the timer hit zero, Berto pressed the button, closing his eyes almost at the same instant. He had experienced the generator numerous times before and, like now, had been in charge of powering it up quite a few times already. He'd seen the way the machine powered up, generating Hassium atoms for use in creating transphasic energy, the flood of green light which indicated the rush of power.

Even through closed eyelids the green light was still incredibly strong, giving everything a slickly glow. The mechanical whir of the rings was almost more audible than normal - normally there would be more people in the control room, muttering and discussing various items while they waited for the machine to do its task, but now there were only four people in the room, all silent and, except for Berto, presumably glued to the observation window to see something...anything.

The generator continued its work, the green glow growing more intense, the heat from the energy generated penetrating through the observation window and warming up the room. Despite knowing that everything was all right, the radiation from Hassium wouldn't be able to get this far, Berto still worried - despite all his caution and knowledge, he felt for certain he'd be going for some nice anti-radiation medication when this was all over.

Slowly but surely, the mechanical whirring of the rings slowed down and the green glow began to dissipate - Berto knew it had only been a couple of minutes, but sitting there, waiting and with eyes closed, not knowing what was going on and likely not knowing what the full, true results of this would be for weeks, months, maybe years...it felt like a lot longer.

The whirring of the rings stopped, the rings themselves grinding to a halt. The green glow was still present but gradually fading with every passing second - the energy made wouldn't disappear when the rings did, but was steadily flowing through the many small pipes built into the system to take the energy away to the storage tanks. As soon as the glow was reduced to a manageable level, Berto opened his eyes...and heard someone take off running, slamming a door open.

Berto turned to the source of the noise, only to see Jefferson Smith, having flung open the first door down to the generator room, hurriedly running down the stairs. Berto exchanged a quick look with Jessica - the two of them, seemingly reading each others' minds, both shot up from their chairs and ran after Jefferson.

Berto reached the door leading to the stairs first, grabbing it just as it was almost closed and threw it open, not caring when it slammed against the wall of the observation room. Jessica shadowed him, the two of them following Jefferson's path and hurrying down the stairs. This area was still sealed against radiation, Berto knew that, but the hairs on the back of his neck began to prickle, a subconscious feeling to the fact that he should turn around, right now, head back up to the observation desk and close the door. Call in for an emergency medical team (which he needed to do for Josh), get them into hazmat suits and use various anti-radiation techniques on both Josh and Jefferson, as well as any items or equipment they had on them.

However, Berto didn't do that - he kept on running down the stairs, just keeping Jefferson in sight. He and Jessica were still partway up the stairs when Jefferson hit the ground level, grabbing and throwing open the door to the transphasic generator room and Jefferson disappeared inside. As before, the door swung shut just as Berto and Jessica reached it; unlike before, Jessica reached out to open the door but before she could open it too far Berto slammed it back shut.

"That door," Berto panted. "Is the only thing separating us from the radiation in the generator room. We've...probably already been exposed to some, but not more than is necessary."

Jessica nodded, having forgotten that in their chase. Instead, the two of them looked through the small window in the door at the scene in the generator room. Even without Berto and Jessica behind him, Jefferson was still not giving a damn about safety precautions, instead making his way through the machinery to the centre of the room where Josh was.

As Berto watched, Josh didn't stir - still unconscious, Berto hoped, and was proved right as Josh started moving just as Jefferson reached him. The two had a brief conversation - about what, Berto didn't know, as the sound of their voices didn't carry and he wasn't that good at lip-reading, let alone in English.

Jefferson looked behind him after a few moments, and stepping to the left and looking to the far right, Berto could see why. Two people in full hazmat gear were walking towards Jefferson and Josh, ready to escort them out of the room. Before they did so, however, Jefferson turned back to look at the two scientists - Berto was sure he couldn't see them both, but they still received a thankful but weary smile.

"Let's just hope I still have a job," Berto muttered to himself, earning a concerned look from Jessica. "I'm the hero of the hour, but if Josh dies..."

"Smith will know we've done everything we can for him."

[ - ]

Half an hour later, Josh was back in the medbay - a lot longer than it took him to initially head from there to the generator room as precautions had to be taken to avoid irradiating any of the more well-used walkways. As it was, the path taken by Josh from the generator room back to the medical section was being dosed in anti-radiation foam.

Not long after Josh had been settled back in to the medbay, the probes had started arcing again, necessitating previous health, safety, and security measures. The arcing wasn't as major as it had been previously but precautions still needed to be followed, and so anyone heading in would be in full hazmat gear. Given that only about half an hour had passed since Josh was in the generator room, there was a strong possibility he would be highly radioactive for at least the next couple of hours - although the radiation given off would all be alpha radiation, the initial 'blast' would be high energy and so penetrate deeper than typical alpha radiation, and as such people were still instructed not to spend more time than was necessarily in the room, and also to have radiation detecting cards when they did, to keep an eye on the levels.

All exposed people had been instructed to head down to the medical section for anti-radiation treatment - not just Jefferson, Berto and Jessica, but the people in hazmat gear who had taken Josh out of the generator room, all the people who'd accompanied Josh back to the medical section, and all the people working to douse the walkways in anti-radiation foam.

Berto had already been in for his check-up: a quick dose of anti-radiation foam, a change of clothing, and a set of anti-radiation medication was all he, Jessica, and the majority of other people had needed. Given Jefferson's prolonged, unprotected exposure, however, he was in for more thorough treatment (and, Berto guessed, a good dressing-down for deliberately putting himself into a dangerous situation). Berto had thus been cleared for work but was having a little trouble trying to concentrate with all the events which had occurred. He'd been given an updated sheet of information on Josh's condition - evidently being the one to suggest dousing Josh in highly radioactive energy meant he was high on the list of people who needed to be kept informed.

[ - ]

Two hours later, Berto was in the medbay, hazmat suit not required but radiation badge still certainly yes. Josh had relapsed into a coma about fifteen minutes ago and was still unconscious and unresponsive - Berto had worries that this was the probes speeding up, damaging Josh's system even quicker, but neglected to say anything just yet. All vitals were good, quite likely it was just Berto being overly cautious (or, as Jessica might have said, overly paranoid that it was all going to fail).

The initial burst of high energy radiation was long gone, leaving typical safety precautions for alpha radiation exposure. Berto grabbed the clipboard off the bottom of Josh's bed and scribbled some notes on to it, indicating everything was all still fine and normal. Well, as normal as someone imbibed with nanomachines and blasted with radioactive energy could be.

Berto sighed to himself, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand as he replaced the clipboard to its resting place. He'd been clocked in at 65 REMs - dangerous but not life-threatening, and the fact he got his anti-radiation medication so quickly was also a bonus. Still, he had been instructed to keep a distance from any radiation if at all possible, continue taking anti-radiation medication (especially if he was to interact with Josh on a regular basis) and to report back if he had any new symptoms appear. Berto wondered if headaches were on the list, or whether that was to be expected with all the events and stress he'd been going through.

After checking the typical signs, Berto did a quick check for any other adverse signs to either the radiation, transphasic energy, or the nanoprobes. On a quick inspection Berto couldn't see anything major, but picked up the clipboard and made a note for more extensive tests when Josh was awake again.

_Everything's going well. So far,_ he thought to himself. Josh was stable, albeit unconscious, and no one seemed to be suffering any symptoms of acute radiation poisoning. Still, there was nothing saying Josh wouldn't suddenly drop down dead next week, or they'd find masses of cancerous growths all over his body thanks to the radiation.

Berto replaced the clipboard back onto the bed, took a quick check on his radiation indicator (still all good, he saw) and made to head out of the door when the sound of movement caused him to stop.

Turning around, Berto could see that Josh was just waking up - confused and in a daze, most likely, but he was awake.

"Where's Dad?" he managed to ask after a few moments of effort, Berto turning to walk back up to stand beside Josh's bed. "Is everything...all right?"

"Jefferson Smith is currently being checked over in our medical centre," Berto said quickly.

"Why? Did something happen?"

"No, everything went fine. He's just being checked over as a precaution." What was he supposed to say - his father was being checked for radiation levels after rushing in to a still-radioactive room? "I went through the same check-over a little time ago. Anyone who was involved is going through the same thing."

"Check-over? What are you checking over _for_?"

Berto hesitated, unsure of quite how to respond. As the seconds ticked along, Josh grew more and more agitated, wanting an answer, and began to glare at Berto - a glare that was almost scarily identical to Jefferson's.

"The method we used to save your life involved dousing you with highly radioactive energy. We're keeping an eye on you to ensure there were no adverse effects, and people who were involved are being checked over for their radiation levels and, if needed, given advice and medication to counteract any reactions. Being that you were at the centre of the radiation, and exposed to a lot of radiation, we will need to keep you in for observation for quite a while."

"When you say 'a lot' of radiation...how much?"

"Given the amount of radiation you were exposed to, it was the equivalent of being at ground zero for two nuclear blasts."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

Over the next few days, things started to look up for Josh. The symptoms he'd had initially were disappearing, and although there were high levels of radiation reported for him, none were causing any effect whatsoever. He'd also been regaining strength, and an off comment about him feeling stronger than before had sent numerous scientists, including Berto, searching for anything they could do or use as a strict test for that theory.

"There is one probability," Berto said, looking at the other two people in the room. He, Jessica, and Vadher (the lead scientist at INTEC) were in a small meeting room discussing Josh's aftereffects to his accident and what they could potentially develop to test responses. "It's possible the nanoprobes are attracted to and eat the radioactive material before it even has a chance to penetrate Josh's system, especially the high energy radiation. It's..." Berto paused for a moment, thinking. "It's like their sugar source. A section of quick, easy energy that can be used almost immediately before they start breaking down the more complex atoms."

"Entirely possible," Vadher said, looking over at Berto. "But how would be reasonably test a theory like that? Short of deliberately exposing Josh McGrath to high doses of radiation, there's no way we can see if this is true. Can we?"

"I don't think so," Jessica replied, stepping in before Berto could talk. "The only thing we could do -"

"Would be to keep tabs on Josh." Vadher interrupted. "_Currently_ he's radiation- and symptom-free, but that could very easily and quickly change in the future. The best we can do is ensure regular check-ups for symptoms and side-effects - not just radiation but anything that could be caused by it. Doctor Martinez, what are you suspicions on if Josh McGrath exhausts the energy we gave him?"

"I would suspect, uh, that he runs the risk of dying, just as previously. With the probes eating through the energy, if he runs out we would end up in a similar situation."

"Which makes things a bit more complicated," Jessica said. "This won't be check-ups based on one exposure to radiation; this will be check-ups based on many exposures over a long length of time. One exposure was bad enough in terms of radiation, but to have him continually need to go back in to the transphasic generator just to survive...?"

"It definitely increases his chances of side-effects dramatically," Vadher said. He leaned forwards, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in a cradle of his fingers. "The best we can do is ensure he doesn't run out of energy too quickly. The more he needs to recharge, for lack of a better word, the more risks there will be."

The three scientists in the room mulled that over for some moments, the silence only being broken when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Vadher called, and all three of them turned to look to see who it was. Anthony Devoe, one of the doctors on staff. Berto thought for a moment, trying to recall just how high up in the hierarchy he was.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir," Anthony said, standing in the doorway, holding a folder in his hand.

"What is it, Devoe?" Vadher said, waving the other person in. As Anthony walked in he brandished the folder in front of him, handing it awkwardly to Vadher.

"Medical information. I thought you and doctors Martinez and Palmieri might want to see this," Anthony said as Vadher took the folder and began leafing through it, Berto and Jessica leaning over to see what information it contained.

There were a few pages of scribbled notes, hastily written and in such disarray that Berto doubted he'd be able to completely understand what was written even if it wasn't quickly flicking past him. After only a couple of sheets there were a couple of x-ray films; Vadher picked one up and held it towards the overhead lights in the room, squinting his eyes to try and make out what was on the film.

"I'm sorry, Devoe, you're going to have to explain this to me. I can't see anything unusual or out of the ordinary on this."

"That's the problem, sir."

"I'm sorry?" Vadher said, putting the x-ray back in to the file and looking at Anthony with a frown. Vadher passed the file over to Berto who quickly scanned it, finding the same oddity as Vadher.

"Those are x-rays of Josh McGrath's arm, the one he broke a few days ago. There is no sign of any fracture, no indication of healing, nothing."

Vadher raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you x-rayed the correct arm?"

Anthony looked annoyed at the accusation, but continued on. "I'm certain, sir. Only looking at the x-ray, you would conclude that any injury sustained was years ago, but we have visual and documented proof that Josh broke that arm only a few days ago."

Berto was only half-hearing the information, having taken out both x-ray films and holding them up towards the light. Both were close-ups of Josh's right arm, the one he'd broken, but as Anthony had said, neither showed any indication of a fracture or healing.

Still holding the x-rays up in one hand, Berto flicked back to the front of the file, re-reading the scribbled information. He caught some words in some sentences, not being able to piece together complete phrases from the text, but he suspected he'd read enough.

"Enhanced healing capabilities?" Berto said, causing both Vadher and Anthony to look at him. "If these records are correct, the only logical explanation is that, somehow, the MX probes have given Josh enhanced healing capabilities, much more advanced than anyone can even come close to."

"Wait," Jessica said, leaning over and holding out her hand. "Let me see that file."

Berto handed over the document to Jessica, letting her flick through the information quickly while everyone else was silent, considering the implications.

"This is intriguing," Vadher said. "If Josh McGrath can heal completely from a broken arm in three or four days, what does that mean for healing speed on radiation?"

"Is it possible that the reason we're not seeing any side-effects from the radiation is partly due to the MX probes, and partly because of these suspected healing capabilities?" Berto said.

"It's possible," Jessica said, handing the file back to Vadher. "If the MX probes can also recognised damaged, broken, or non-functioning cells, couldn't that also mean that they're able to fend off cancer long before it would even show up on tests, or cause a visible tumor?"

All three scientists looked at each other; Anthony, thought, was still a little confused over the whole scenario. After a moment, Vadher handed the file back to Anthony and began to speak.

"When Josh McGrath next goes in to the transphasic generator room, schedule regular tests for radiation sickness."

"When he...next goes in?"

"Yes. Unfortunately, we suspect that Josh will need a continued supply of transphasic energy if he is to live for any decent amount of time. I suspect that, with enough doses of high enough radiation, we would expect to see symptoms of radiation sickness. I would also suspect that those symptoms would disappear within a few days, if not hours."

[ - ]

Rachel's heels clicked menacingly on the polished wooden walkways of the higher levels of INTEC. For any agent who'd crossed her path before and was suspicious that they may not have done things exactly right and to her exacting standards, that sound was quite a terrifying one.

Instead, on this occasion, very few people heard that sound; instead, the main sound they heard was various people talking and whispering to themselves, discussing the break-in a few days ago and the consequences of.

Rachel wasn't one for gossip - either spreading it herself or listening in to the latest rumours - but even her exacting standards had failed to shield her from at least the most well-known details, and she suspected that she would still hear something even if she holed herself up in her office for all eternity. She had been the one to first find Josh McGrath after his accident and, having known he was the boss's son and encountered him on a couple of occasions (very briefly, and largely at N-Tek's annual charity ball which he had started to attend), she knew some things about him.

When she'd heard that he had survived after being imbued with transphasic energy, she idly wondered how much it would affect his life - both for the good and the bad. She hadn't known about any biological tests regarding the probes, so as far as she was concerned Josh was a one and only, the first case of nanoprobes interacting with living cells.

A living experiment.

After a few more steps, Rachel pushed the thought out of her mind; she had other, more relevant items to concentrate on. Josh McGrath was not her problem currently - if he did, _then_ she'd start using brain power to consider the situation.

Reaching her destination, Rachel shifted the bundle of papers she was carrying into one hand and quickly knocked on the door. Seconds later, she got a quick response of "come in" to which she opened the door and stepped through.

She faltered slightly when she saw both Jean Mairot and Jefferson Smith in the room - it being the office of the Director of Operations (Mairot) she had only expected him to be there. However, it only took a second for her to regain her composure and hand over the bundle of papers.

"The requested after-action reports, Mairot," Rachel said as Mairot took them, watching as he flicked through the papers quickly, mentally noting down the missions covered in the various documents. "The majority of the reports are by myself, but there are some I managed to collect from other agents."

Jefferson cast a quick glance over at some of the reports, seeing various names included - most of them were expected as Rachel normally did a quick roundup of reports for agents on a semi-regular basis, but the name of Kat Ryan was not one he was expecting to see included. Kat Ryan was a brilliant agent but notorious for being lax about paperwork and documentation; often times it was easier to get her partner to write the after-action report...if she was on a mission with a partner, that is.

Is there anything else, sir?" Rachel asked once Mairot had finished flicking through the file and had placed it on his desk.

"That will be all, Ms. Leeds," Mairot replied. Rachel simply nodded in response before turning around and walking out of the room; Jefferson and Mairot exchanged glances but said nothing until a good minute had passed, ensuring that Rachel was distant enough and out of earshot to not hear what they were discussing.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Jean." Jefferson spoke first, breaking the silence. "At least not yet, not until we're certain."

"You knew Josh's father, and you know how alike those two are. If you think this will go in any other direction, you're deluding yourself."

"_Jean._"

"You've raised Josh for fifteen years. Surely you, of all people, will know how he's going to react to this news."

Jefferson sighed. "I know you're right, Jean. I just don't want to accept it. I promised Jim that I'd look after his son, and so far I've made a mess of that."

"No one anticipated the break-in, Jefferson. You can't be blamed for that."

"I can sure as hell still feel guilty about it." Jefferson walked back towards Mairot's desk, briefly glancing over the items on it. Mairot usually kept his desk meticulous and the fact that there was now numerous files and sheets of paper spread all over indicated that something serious was being discussed.

Jeff absently pushed one of the sheets of paper towards him and looked at the information - name, standard profile picture, and various information about the agent's background, history, time at INTEC, and relevant information on the types of missions she had been sent on and the relative success levels.

Jefferson slid the piece of paper back to its previous place, all too aware that Mairot was likely watching him. He instead glanced over at some of the other pages, two names jumping out at him: Kat Ryan and Rachel Leeds. Passing over those, he headed to the far most section of the desk, the area with the most files and folders on it. All of the files there had a bright red "new recruit" stamped on them, and Jefferson picked up the one furthest along.

Josh McGrath.

Unlike all of the other new recruit documents, Josh's was conspicuously empty. Half the information wasn't even filled in, and even the photo on top was cropped from one of many photos Jefferson had in the house. The bio was filled in, but more important information - such as codename and partner - were still empty.

Mairot cleared his throat. "I still stand by my suggestion that, of the current agents we've selected, Rachel Leeds would be the best match for Josh McGrath."

Jefferson moved to say something, but hesitated. Logically thinking, on paper Rachel would make the best partner for Josh and his new...altered... state, but actually seeing how they would work together would be another matter.

"All right," Jefferson said. "Arrange a tentative meeting between the two of them. However, I want it made clear that this is not confirmed, nor is it permanent. I want there to be notes and reports on how well the two of them work together; if they are causing friction within INTEC or are not working to their full potential I will want a reassignment."

"Yes, sir." Mairot moved to start clearing up the desk, replacing the files in the folders and rearranging the folders into neat, specific piles.

"It's not confirmed Josh will become an agent; however, in case he does, I want everything set up and in place."

"Understood."

[ - ]

Josh had taken another trip into the generator - one of the various machines they'd plugged him into was able to monitor his transphasic levels (or so they said), so when his levels started dropping below thirty percent they made a move to recharge him (Josh's appetite also increasing in inverse proportion to his energy levels was another, less technical method). The scientists had also noted that, and theories abounded about whether that was part of the probe integration - they were starting to need energy so they sent signals to the brain to stimulate hunger, potentially hoping to use some of the food source as a temporary energy source.

That had been the previous day. Currently Josh was being checked over by one of INTEC's seemingly endless supplies of doctors (so much so that he didn't even remember what this person's name was). When Josh had asked just what they were checking for, the doctor had just 'hmm'ed and continued on with work.

Josh had felt a little sick initially after his second recharge, but the symptoms had disappeared after a couple of hours - Josh wasn't aware but that was what Anthony Devoe, the doctor currently checking him over, was making notes on. Vadher's suspicions were correct: Josh's initial symptoms were linked with radiation sickness but as Josh's symptoms reduced so did the recorded radiation levels.

[ - ]

Berto quickly scanned over the latest report - for a nice change, this was one was Vadher had given him, a copy he'd received from Devoe. It showed everything Vadher, Berto and Jessica had predicted - the probes were acting in a way that suppressed and then removed any radiation in Josh's body. While that was one part of the mystery solved, it still didn't help them discern what any of the long-term effects on Josh would be.

Berto leaned over and placed the report on his bedside desk, taking off his glasses also and placing them on top of the paper. He linked his hands between his head and leaned back, staring at the ceiling.

It didn't feel like he'd been employed at INTEC for just three short months - to him, it felt a lot longer. He'd had an accelerated degree (two majors, one in microbiology and the other in cybernetics and nanotechnology) and had very easily gained a PhD at the young age of seventeen, an age in which most of his peers were just considering what university to go to for their undergrad, not collecting their degree.

His PhD had been on something very similar to the MX probes - self-replicating, 'breeding' microscopic robots and that was only one of a number of reasons INTEC had approached him with a job offer.

He wasn't much of a social person to begin with, so the prospect of moving to a new, very much unfamiliar city was quite daunting, but the perks (the starting salary and the prospect of being promoted very quickly up the ladder, potentially being given his own lab section) were a little too good for Berto to resist. Being that he wasn't that social, his intended temporary accommodation (for agents who were mobile enough to get out of the medical centre but not released; those who needed somewhere to temporarily live because of transferring to a new town or country) in the underground levels of INTEC was fast turning into his intended permanent accommodation. Not that he was complaining - it was close to work and the rent was cheap, comparatively speaking.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Berto got up and walked across to the other side of the room (about two steps - not far; the rooms were built for quick accommodation not long-term rental) and picked up what looked like a mass of metal, plastic and wires. Grabbing a small tool set that was sitting next to it, Berto retreated back to hit bed and began fiddling and tuning it.

He'd gotten the idea when he'd seen the - rather large and cumbersome - transphasic energy monitor attached to Josh. The idea of being able to see specific readouts on how much energy Josh had left was an appealing idea, but all of the current monitors had been designed for machines, not people. It was a fairly easy process to just miniaturise all of the monitoring equipment, but no one seemed to be on hand to even think about the idea.

Hence, Berto was making one in his own on his spare time.

After some time someone knocked on the door.

"Uh, come in," Berto said distractedly, not even bothering to look up to see who had knocked on the door, and thusly had no idea who was walking into his room and across to the bed. Only when the person stopped at the foot of the bed, hands on hips did Berto even bother to look up...and saw Jessica standing there with an annoyed look on her face.

"I've been looking everywhere for you," Jessica began, but Berto paid her no heed, looking back down at the transphasic monitoring device and continuing work. Instead, she cleared a small section of the bed (picking up some items and placing them elsewhere, but mostly just shoving items that were on the bed to another section). "Well, not everywhere - I was about to start looking for you in the gym next."

"Uh-huh."

"Berto, this is important. I've been hearing whispers and rumours circling around, and I have no idea if they're even true. Which is why I've been looking for you - I need someone to talk to about this."

Berto frowned, looking up from the device. "What kind of rumours?"

"Well, the main one is Josh wanting to join INTEC and become an agent. Apparently his biological father was an agent too - guess it runs in the family."

"What's Jefferson's response been?"

"Josh hasn't told him, not yet - at least, not that I'm aware of. People are saying that when Josh does tell Jefferson, it's not going to be pretty. There's already whispers going around comparing Josh to Jim and wondering how he's going to compare - that can't be good for Josh."

Berto's frown deepened. "And people aren't realising that all of this is a bad thing to be saying around Josh's hospital room why?"

Jessica looked at Berto blankly for a moment. "You don't know?"

"Don't know what?"

Jessica paused for a second, gathering her thoughts. "Josh's hearing is improving, much more beyond the capabilities of a typical person. He's hearing all these people from feet away and it's slowly been getting better over time."

"I guess we'll need to find out Josh's full capabilities soon."

[ - ]

It was now a week after Josh's accident and he was feeling back to normal - better than normal, actually. He couldn't remember the last time he felt so energetic and capable, but unfortunately that came with a price, and he wasn't talking about the nanoprobes (at least, not completely).

No, he was still stuck in the medical section of INTEC, still subject to various tests and questions and investigations while the scientists and doctors continued to find out the extent of the nanoprobes integration with his body. One good side was that Josh now had more of an idea of his abilities compared to before - it had initially started when he started overhearing people whispering or speaking from feet away from the door to his hospital room, a distance where he doubted he'd hear anything normally.

From that, he'd been subject to tests and experiments, and they were beginning to unravel just what Josh was capable of. He could hear a whisper from a distance of thirty feet - the softest sound a human could hear right next to them, but instead from quite a long distance. His pain threshold, though, was still the same as an ordinary person's, perhaps a little lower for some recognised painful sounds.

He worked out - ran, bench-pressed, did martial arts and swam - but even on a quick test he'd found his abilities in those had all massively increased, too. He could run faster and for longer without tiring, bench-press at least twice his personal, record best at the gym. Martial arts he couldn't get a specific feel for, but given his increased strength it wouldn't be a surprise for it to affect that as well.

Probably the largest surprise to him, though, was swimming. Given that it took place after the strength and hearing tests, it wasn't a surprise that Josh was able to power through the length of the pool; what was a surprise was the length of time Josh was able to hold his breath underwater. Untrained, people could only hold their breath for a minute or so at the longest; for Josh, however, they called the experiment off after twenty minutes despite Josh still sending up signals and information saying that he was okay, everything was going well.

Josh had also received what one of the scientists called a "multifunctional, wrist-linked monitoring device" - initially looking like a watch, albeit one of N-Tek's top models; when he put it on the scientist demonstrated its functions, including being able to expand to cover about two-thirds of his lower arm. The scientist had explained the main functions of the device but was very specific about the main one: a large screen, right about where someone would look for the time, displayed Josh's current energy readings and how much transphasic energy he currently had left.

The scientist had gone on to a spiel about how the watch could give that information, but after the fourth scientific word (out of a total of five words spoken about the device), Josh tuned out. Still, it was all quite fascinating and, if it had been happening to anyone else, Josh would have found it extremely cool.

However, as it _did_ affect him, the more he learned about what he was now capable of doing, the more and more angry he got. He was quickly being reduced to someone who needed an external energy source to survive, someone whose newly-discovered strengths and talents were making it harder and harder for Josh to see how he could ever compete fairly against other people in the sports field.

He'd been trying, but he couldn't find any way to turn off these new-found abilities, not even temporarily. He was stuck with extra-sharp hearing, enhanced strength, and all other numerous small features which they were yet to discover (given the surprise some of the scientists had shown upon some of Josh's abilities, he didn't doubt there were more to come).

One of the most recent discoveries had been when a couple of scientists were plugging in to the multifunctional, wrist-linked monitoring device" (they _really_ needed to think up a better, shorter name for it) to monitor things with a better, larger screen (three people wouldn't be able to crowd around the small screen of the device comfortably) and had recorded the electrical signals of various points and actions.

Once recorded, they'd decided to experiment a little and have a look at the unused values, to see if anything new was switched on. They had found a couple of things - if Josh was willing to use up a large amount of energy in a short time, he could expand his speed and strength by ten - and upon a whisper from one scientist to the other, they had hesitantly queried Josh about an alternate appearance. When Josh asked for clarification, they gave it: in some of the machines where they used nanoprobes, they were able to alter the appearance of said machines. Not by much - it was all cosmetic so no changing a cheap old car into a Ferrari - but it was enough to add to the potential of using it to escape detection.

The scientists both admitted they had no idea what the full potential or use of such a function might be, but the option was there if Josh ever thought it would be needed. In fact, as soon as they'd offered up the possibility, gears had started whirring in his head - he knew exactly how he'd use that function.

Josh looked up as he heard low whistling coming from the corridor outside of the hospital room; that was combined with the occasional slow, steady set of footsteps and a wet slapping sound. Reaching the door, Josh peered out to the left, saw nothing, then peered to the right to see someone meticulously mopping the floor - a janitor. Josh stayed where he was, watching the janitor come even closer and, once the man was within normal human earshot, the janitor stopped and looked up at Josh.

As he glanced over Josh's face, a flicker of recognition sparked in his eyes, but the rest of his face didn't follow suit. The two stood there for a few moments more, Josh growing more and more uneasy underneath the man's stare.

"So," the janitor said, breaking the silence and the tension. "You're Steel's son, are you not?"

"Uh, Steel? I don't know anyone..."

"Jim McGrath's kid, right?" the janitor said after a bit of mental backtracking.

"Yeah, that's right. Why'd you call me 'Steel'?"

"That was Jim's code name. Over time we just got used to calling him that. He was a good agent, strong and reliable. Always knew what you were getting with him, never hid anything."

As the janitor spoke, Josh relaxed, leaning against the frame of the hospital room. "You seem to know a lot about my dad," he added.

The janitor chuckled, resting his mop against the side of the wall. "Chuck Marshak. I've been working for INTEC long before your father even started. I worked here before INTEC was even around - I was hired before NSE moved to Nitro Island. Believe me, I've seen many an employee, agent or not, come and go in this place for various reasons. Well," Chuck added, picking up his mop again. "I need to get back to work." And with that, he once again began mopping along the floors of the medical centre, leaving Josh to mull over what he'd just heard.

[ - ]

"Is it possible?"

"It is," Berto said hesitantly. "It won't be automatic though - the probes will respond to the signal and use a pre-defined design. The machines at INTEC that use the same function have already had an alternate appearance programmed in."

"So it's possible?" Josh asked again, fiddling with his watch. The two of them were still in the medical section, Berto having brought a laptop with him on Josh's rather odd initial request.

Berto sighed. "Yes, it's possible." He put the laptop on a nearby table, booting it up and, once loaded, finding a facial composite program. "You'll have to remain the same height and weight, but anything appearance related - hair, skin, eyes - can all be changed. I've left it on your presets - blond hair, brown eyes, light skin." Berto turned the laptop around slightly, allowing Josh access to the machine without having to move out of the way himself. Josh walked up to the laptop and looked at the screen, seeing an eerily-accurate image of himself staring back.

"Almost like looking into a mirror," Josh commented, mostly to himself.

"Changing the presets is easy," Berto added, reaching over and moving the mouse over to the left hand side of the screen; as he did so, three white, translucent arrows appeared and Berto randomly clicked on them a few times to illustrate his point.

"Got it," Josh said, taking control from Berto. He clicked around a bit, having an idea of what he wanted his alternate appearance to be, and within a few minutes he had a good initial plan. After some adjustments, he was happy and stood back from the computer, allowing Berto to come in and look.

The 'Josh' looking back had brown hair, vivid blue eyes, and a slightly darker skin tone than Josh. The image had gone from looking eerily similar to Josh to looking like a younger version of his biological father.

[ - ]

Rachel walked through the open doorway into her office, and grimaced slightly at the sight of the new manila envelope on her desk. Her last mission had only been a few days ago - within the US, thankfully - and this was her first full day back on duty after her time off. Still, she couldn't expect terrorists to just up and take the day off when she needed it so, putting a neutral expression on her face she closed the door behind her, walked forwards, sat down at the desk and pulled the envelope towards her, noting the information written on the front.

The front only had the briefest of information: the title "MX1 Project", the date, and the fact that it required level five security clearance - even less so than the average mission, especially for something requiring clearance at this level. Still, Rachel wrote her initials and the date on the seal before breaking it. She flicked open the envelope and looked down at the first page of information.

A request for Rachel to be assigned a partner, a new employee of INTEC.

The page was full of the standard information and wording, so Rachel scanned through it quickly, only to see a new short paragraph at the bottom of the page.

_This request is still under consideration and, hence, is in no way a formal agreement as of the time of writing._

Curious, Rachel turned the page over. She was a field commander; while she did go on missions (despite the name 'commander' indicating otherwise), training was usually left up to regular agents. Agents with a couple of years of field and technical experience, but it was very, very rare for a senior agent or field commander to be asked to train a new recruit. There were numerous other agents in INTEC whose experience and skill would be better suited, but as soon as Rachel began reading through the next page of information, she clearly understood just why _she_ had been chosen.

On the top-right corner was a picture of Josh - slightly grainy and not of the usual standard of INTEC, and Rachel wondered if it had been scanned in from something similar to a yearbook, maybe a vacation snapshot. Below the picture was a multitude of notes about Josh, including a bio, his personality and defining characteristics, family, background, and general life. Some of the information was blacked out which made Rachel curious - given her high security clearance there was very little information she wasn't privy to, but as she read down she saw that the information was focused on Josh's relation to Jim McGrath. That triggered some slight curiosity in her, but she quashed it as she continued reading.

As with the covering letter, the documentation emphasized the tentative potential of Josh becoming an agent - however, given the wealth of information and the fact that they were already giving this to her, it was a strong indicator that they thought the odds of Josh requesting to join INTEC were very high.

Rachel skimmed over most of the documentation - she wasn't old enough to have known anything about Jim personally, nor was the news of a sports company in California catching fire a newsworthy national (let alone international) story, but being in INTEC for seven years had given her (and a lot of other agents - it didn't take long before a new recruit heard at least the basics) a lot of time to hear about INTEC's past and history, including some of the live and events surrounding Josh McGrath. Doubly so as he was the son of the CEO.

Rachel next turned to the supplementary material - information on friends, hobbies, anything which would be of note but wasn't important enough to be included in the bio. Despite there being a wealth of information on Josh's social life, the supplementary details only offered a scant number of friends: Alex Witzbald, Talia Matthews, Zane Wagnor, Russel Cotton, Pete Costas. Of those, only Pete got a short bio to himself, indicating that while Josh had some friends, he still kept himself to himself. The next page continued with friends, this one focused on one person only: Laura Chen, Josh's girlfriend. Behind the bio information was a full-page photo, slightly pixelated from where it had been expanded to fit neatly on a sheet of A4 (another hastily-gathered photo, Rachel assumed). It showed a pretty-looking young Chinese woman - nothing in the photo elevating her to anything beyond the type of person you'd expect to pass randomly on the street, and Rachel betted that she had likely done so on a number of occasions.

The bio noted that Laura was away for the summer doing an internship - a study of her major revealed that it wasn't a required element but reading between the lines Rachel gathered a lot of information about her background: a woman who showed potential but was backed up by parents who pushed her to succeed and also had the money to ensure she did.

Rachel turned back to Pete's bio, quickly reading through that. His was more like Josh - interested in sports, averaging a 2.5GPA, but nothing that would mark him out as being above average, let alone exceptional.

Neither of the bios pointed to the potential of them raising any questions about Josh's involvement in INTEC, and for that Rachel was glad. If Josh did decide to become an agent, and he became more serious about the relationship between himself and Laura then he'd need to read her in, but until then? Things could wait.

At the back of the folder was another, thinner and slimmer. This one was marked with level nine security clearance; still within Rachel's limits. However, she didn't open it just yet; instead, she closed the main folder and leaned back in her chair, considering her options.

She could return the folder to Mairot and decline the assignment - she did after all have many, numerous arguments against being assigned to train a new recruit (maybe she should try and get Mairot to assign Josh to Kat - now that would be interesting). This was something that anyone who had trained and been partnered with a new recruit could easily do - there was nothing specific that she, Rachel, would be required to do. Training a new recruit would also potentially cut into her time and capabilities as a field commander - partnered with a rookie meant more field time and less commanding, which she would not be best pleased about. She had worked hard to get to where she was, and didn't intend to slow down her rate of progression any time soon.

However...Rachel doubted if those reasons were good enough. She didn't turn down assignments without exceedingly good cause and, from what she could see, this was _not_ an exceedingly good cause. There was nothing barring field commanders from training recruits; it was just rarely done.

There was another option, though, which was slowly beginning to lean her towards accepting training Josh. He was new, unique, one of a kind. She expected that if she agreed to this, she would get good favours with both Mairot and Smith - not only that, but it would have the potential to give her a much higher standing within INTEC. She'd be the one known for training Josh and who knows, that might significantly help her opportunities when a promotion was being considered.

Rachel leaned forward and flicked open the file again, finding the second folder at the back. As before, she wrote down her initials and the date and broke the seal, spreading out the information contained in this file over the desk - she did keep it to the half closest to her so that she could see all the information at a glance without needing to move. As she did so, she noted a small envelope addressed to her; for the time being, she swept it to the side.

Right from the start, the main thing Rachel saw was lots and lots of numbers accompanied by some charts and a large amount of technical, scientific jargon. She understood about half of it on a first read-through, having to go back and re-read some sections to get the full understanding. In amongst all the information she managed to start building up a picture of Josh's capabilities: enhanced speed, strength and stamina being the main points. All of these were backed up with numbers and graphs Rachel glanced over, some with multiple repeats of the experiment, others with a simple one-off.

Towards the end, there were a few paragraphs summarising the whole documentation - despite understanding most of the information presented to her, she still picked up the sheet it was on and read the information.

_The infusion of nanotech MX probes (current version 2.94.2) developed in house by a team including Martinez, Vadher, Palmieri, and Takahasi, into subject Josh McGrath (herein known as MX 1) while accidental has allowed us to study the effects of nanotech infusion on a long-term scale._

_At present, the concentration of MX probes in MX 1's body is estimated to be a value of eight (8) nanoprobes to one (1) cell. Studies will need to be done in the future to determine if these values will increase or decrease over time; if these values do change, additional studies will need to be done to compare the current capabilities of MX 1 with the capabilities involved with any future changes._

_Upon testing, MX 1 has shown increased capabilities in speed, strength, endurance, sight, and hearing. Further capabilities may be discovered in the future. With no additional enhancements MX 1 possesses the strength of two (2) average people of a similar height, weight, and fitness level; MX 1 also possesses enhanced speed (an average of eighteen (18) miles per hour) and endurance (average speed was clocked over two hours with a top speed of twenty-five (25) miles per hour)._

_In testing, MX 1 has shown to have perfect 20/20 vision and the capabilities to enhance this to varying values depending on the situation. At present, MX 1 can increase his visual capabilities up to a current value of 30/1 (an item thirty feet away from him can be read as clearly as an item one foot away for a typical person)._

_MX 1 has also shown increased audio capabilities, being able to hear a sound of twenty (20) µPa from a distance of thirty (30) feet. Pain threshold is currently varying between one hundred (100) dB and one hundred and forty (140) dB and from initial reports this variation is based upon the type of sound used - a high-pitched sound records a lower pain threshold than a lower-pitched one._

_More capabilities may become evident in the future._

As she finished reading, Rachel leaned back in her chair again. This was immense, to say the least, and she began to understand just quite why she had been asked to train him. Josh wouldn't be any typical agent INTEC saw on a daily basis; no, he would be a one of a kind super-agent and likely need an experience, very capable agent to train and partner up with him.

Forgetting getting favours from Jefferson Smith - if she was successful (what was she thinking, _when_ she was successful) then this would go beyond just looking good or helping her promotion opportunities. She'd be the first in line to be considered for promotion with her experience, not just on this but on everything she had done.

At twenty-five, she was already the youngest field commander INTEC had ever had (she had beaten out Jefferson Smith's record by five months) and she had plans and ambitions to go much, much further. Some people were content to stay as agents or get shuffled off to desk jobs, but not her - the day she was no longer even a consideration for a mission would be the day she retired...or the day after she died.

Rachel picked up the envelope from where she'd discarded and opened it quickly. Inside was a brief letter informing her of a planned meeting between Jefferson Smith and Josh McGrath at four that afternoon; however, the letter also requested her presence in Jefferson's office for a meeting thirty minutes beforehand. Rachel glanced at the clock on her computer, checking the time: just coming up on two which gave her plenty of time.

She opened up the internal email program and composed a short but succinct email stating that she would be attending the planned meeting with no issues. As she pressed 'send' she cast another glance over at the pages of documentation and information in front of her before collecting it all back together and placing it in the main file.

She might not make Director of Operations by the time she was twenty-nine (that record, she was certain, Jefferson Smith would hold for a long, long time to come) but she was certainly going to make sure she got as close as she could.

Rachel Leeds was ambitious and not one to give in easily.

[ - ]

Josh sighed in annoyance, shuffling in his seat and taking another quick glance up at the clock in the room. It was slowly ticking forwards, currently showing a time of five minutes to four - Josh had only been waiting there for about ten minutes, but it already felt like an age.

He was nervous - no, more than nervous, he was terrified. He was the one who asked about a meeting with his dad (and when it was easily agreed and scheduled in, Josh wondered darkly if he should have tried following an intruder in and getting dunked in nanoprobes before). He hadn't specified why or for what - he thought he'd be better off keeping those details for when he got in to the meeting with his father - but Jefferson had been quite cavalier and easy-going about the whole thing.

Josh tore his attention away from the clock and instead towards Jefferson's secretary. She'd been there for near-on five years and yet every time Josh saw he she looked the same: nice hair, make-up neatly applied, always looking alert and confident no matter the time of day (or night). That last bit might have something to do with the cup of coffee in front of her which she was occasionally taking sips from, in between the clack of keys as she quickly typed out word after work. He'd never seen her without anything less than a half-filled cup of coffee - either she was always alert because she drank so much of it, or she'd drunk so much of it over the years that she couldn't function without it.

One thing that was getting on Josh's nerves was the fact that he could hear everything, no matter how mundane or distant. When he'd asked about it, the scientists had said they'd work with him to find a way to adjust his hearing back down to normal levels, but so far he was having little success. Josh hadn't noticed it too much when he was in the hospital, but now he was back in the real world (or, as real as an office on the second floor of N-Tek got) he was beginning to find out just how annoying it all was.

For a normal person, the clacking of keys as Miranda Parish typed would have been the only thing they noticed. For Josh, however, it was only the start of the noises he was able to hear. He could hear the fan of the computer going, heard Miranda's breathing, heard the click of the clock as the seconds ticked by. As he was quite close to the door to the main corridor, Josh also heard when people walked by - not even when they were walking beside the door, but just in the general area. He could hear mumblings, whispers, laughs and general chatter, although everyone who passed the area either knew how to keep the secret side of N-Tek a secret, or just simply didn't know about it.

Josh felt the beginnings of a headache coming on, and didn't know quite what noise to blame it on. Should he blame it on the hissing noise of the fan of the computer, or the fact that the clacking of the keyboard was like a jackhammer against his brain? How about the tick of the clock sounding like a giant crack of thunder, or the sounds of people walking outside like multiple bombs going off?

Josh glanced up at the clock again, managing to stifle a groan when he saw it was now _four_ minutes to four. Becoming impatient he began fiddling with his watch, pulling out, twisting, and then pushing in the crown of the watch, idly aware that he was completely messing up the time showed on the watch but not, at that moment in time, caring. After a few seconds he stopped fiddling, relaxing back into the chair and attempting to look calm and un-worried, although he doubted that worked at all.

After a seemingly-endless wait, the intercom on the secretary's desk crackled to life; Josh did his best to not just jump up and dash towards his father's office, and somehow succeeded.

"Ms. Parish, can you please send in Josh McGrath."

Miranda leaned over, her typing momentarily ceasing, and pressed a button on the intercom. "Of course, sir." She glanced up and looked at Josh. "Mr. Smith will see you now."

Josh stood up, a slight wobble in his balance as he did so but he doubted Miranda had noticed. He walked over to the door connecting the waiting room with Jefferson's office, trying to aim for confidence and calmness but likely failing in both regards. He grabbed the handle, opened the door and stepped inside.

As expected, his father was sitting on one side of the desk, a number of files and documents spread across the top of it. As _not_ expected, someone else was sitting on the other side of the desk; a fairly tall, blond woman who was now looking at Josh intently but with an otherwise blank face. He swallowed nervously, not moving; he had requested a meeting alone, right?

"Uh, you wanted to see me, Dad?" Josh said nervously, shifting some of his weight onto his left leg. The blond woman continued to look at Josh for a couple more seconds before turning her attention back to Jefferson.

"Yes, of course Josh. I think that about covers everything, Rachel," Jefferson added, turning to address the woman in front of him.

"Of course, sir. Thank you for your time," she said in a British accent as she stood up. Without another glance towards Jefferson or Josh she walked out of the room, striding past Josh with a mix of confidence and coolness.

"Sit down please, Josh," Jefferson said, indicating the newly-vacated seat in front of him. Josh did likewise, shuffling the chair back a bit to accompany his taller frame. "Now, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Well, I..." Josh began. He wasn't quite sure how to approach the main discussion topic occupying his mind immediately, so he switched topics. "How have you been. With work and everything, I mean?"

Jefferson looked slightly taken aback - surely Josh hadn't scheduled in a meeting just for a nice chat? However, given everything that had been going on since Josh's accident (and in fact, even before then) he admitted that it was probably the best way to get some time with his son.

"I've just been a bit inundated with work. There's a lot to catch up on and organise," he said, leaving out the fact that most of his workload recently had been dealing with Josh's accident and the fallout of it.

"Uh-huh," Josh said distractedly. Well, _that _didn't take long to discuss. After a few seconds of silence, Josh spoke up again. "Look, Dad, I've been thinking. I'm not quite sure how to say this, so...I want to join INTEC. Officially. Become an agent and everything."

Despite knowing that this was going to happen, Jefferson tried to remain calm and quashed the part of his brain which was replying with a straight-out 'no'. He'd agreed a tentative pairing of Josh with Rachel, had even discussed it with her moments before Josh had come into the room, but he was still finding it hard to say yes.

"Are you sure about this, Josh? Being an agent isn't all fun and games - it's nothing like it's portrayed in movies and TV shows. It's difficult and dangerous, and should only be something you consider doing if you're certain; not something you do because you feel you should or that you owe it to someone to do so."

At the look on Josh's face at that last sentence, Jefferson knew he'd hit a sore point. However, the expression quickly disappeared as Josh started speaking.

Josh stood up rapidly, slamming his hands down on the desk, only just managing to avoid wincing as he heard the wood of the desk creak and felt it splinter under his strength. "Dad, I am certain. I can do this, I know it. I...I need to do something. Do you know what I'm now capable of? I can _help_, Dad."

"Jim was just as adamant as you are," Jefferson said quietly, so quietly that if Josh didn't have enhanced hearing he doubted he would have heard it at all. "Life can take you in different directions. We both joined at almost the same time, and look how we ended up." Jefferson looked away quickly, not wanting to open up old wounds too much; he'd done enough, almost too much, of that recently. After a moment he looked back at Josh. "Are you ready to give up your life as it is now? For other agents this is their only, full-time job - they have little to no other commitments than their duty and dedication to this company and the work they do.

"You're a college student - can you find time to study, go to classes, date Laura and _still_ be an agent?"

Josh stood up straight, sighing. Jefferson had a momentary pause, a second of thought that he might, just might have persuaded Josh otherwise, at least for the time being.

"Well, if Josh McGrath can't do those things," Josh began, pressing a button on his watch. He heard minute cracks of energy and hoped that this all worked - Doctor Martinez had confirmed it had worked previously, but he had no guarantee it would work this time.

Jefferson just watched as Josh's features changed in front of his eyes. Gone was his blond hair and brown eyes, replaced instead with brown hair and blue eyes. After a few seconds, Josh spoke again.

"Then Max Steel, will."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

Josh wasn't quite sure what he preferred: the deafening argument he and his father had only finished minutes ago, or the quiet still silence that was now hovering over them in the room. Josh dreaded to think how much people outside the room had heard, but at the moment that was the least of his worries.

The idea of suddenly dropping the news that he could change appearance at will seemed like the best idea at the time; allow himself a way to be an agent but not as Josh, yet the argument that followed it had clarified and solidified Jefferson's thoughts and processes.

Josh McGrath, Max Steel...the problem wasn't that he could change his name and appearance and become a different person, but that would he have the time to work for INTEC without sacrificing something in his 'normal' life.

Well, when Josh had made a snide remark about what Jefferson had sacrificed, that was when the argument exploded.

Jefferson shifted in his seat, a thoughtful expression still on his face. Josh (now turned back to his 'normal' appearance) was wondering if they'd discuss anything else, or whether he'd be allowed to leave. Just as Josh was about ready to turn around and leave the room, Jefferson spoke.

"Is your appearance...the appearance of Max Steel. Was that randomly generated? Could you change your appearance to that of anyone?"

"Within reason," Josh replied. "Hair and eye colour can be changed easily. This is only one appearance I could have."

Jefferson nodded, not wanting to broach the subject of Josh not answering his first question - by the fact that Josh hadn't responded to it he had the answer he needed anyway. Jefferson leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them again.

"Feel free to leave," Jefferson said; Josh, almost relieved to be allowed to leave, hurried out of the room.

As soon as Josh had left and the door shut behind him, Jefferson ran a hand across his face. Josh may have only been four when his father died, but that was more than old enough to have memories of him - and even if it wasn't, Jefferson had more than enough pictures of both Jim and Molly for Josh to remember them by. What were the odds that that appearance was completely random? Very slim, Jefferson suspected.

_Oh Jim, why did your son have to be so much like you?_

[ - ]

Being able to step out of the building of INTEC where he'd been cooped up for too many days to count was an exhilarating experience. He was still undergoing various tests and examinations, but everyone involved had agreed that there was no risk of him dropping dead the moment he stepped foot outside.

He did have to agree to be monitored, though - the device Berto had given him was unofficial and unauthorised, but as soon as Berto had finished being reprimanded about it he had been informed that it was good work and they would use it to set up a link between Josh and INTEC. They had modified some of its functions (temporarily removing a few Berto had added in as a precaution) but also reconfigured the whole design and added an 'off' button for Josh's personal use.

However, INTEC seemed to also operate on the philosophy that good work doesn't go unrewarded and as such Berto had been promoted within their ranks and was now the person in charge of monitoring Josh's Bio-Link (it had, _finally_, been given a new name after people realised that a multi-syllable description was too much for people to remember, let alone say). Josh had mentally queried Berto's willingness to do so, but Berto had seemed happy enough - they'd cleared out an old, unused room in the science section and fitted it with various electronic equipment (including a large monitor, multiple smaller screens, and a console solely for the purpose of monitoring Josh) and more than enough space for Berto to tinker with his own personal experiments. Both Berto and Josh had been informed that the monitoring (by Berto) was only temporary and subject to review at a later date, but neither overly cared - Berto had his own lab space and a higher wage, and that was pretty much all that mattered to him; while for Josh, simply being out of the building was good enough for him.

Josh stopped in front of the front door of his father's house - funny, only a year at college and he'd already stopped thinking of it as somewhere he'd lived and instead as somewhere he visited - wondering just what he was supposed to be doing. He'd only moved his stuff out of the dorms three days before his accident and had very little time to even think about talking with his dad. He and Pete had seen Laura off for her internship, Jefferson had been busy at work (as was typical), and the planned meal had never occurred. He had planned to stay at his father's house for the summer break anyway, so returning there wasn't _too_ much of an issue.

"Hey, Dad," Josh said after he'd opened the door and stepped through it to see his father in the living room - quite a surprise as it was only mid-afternoon and Josh expected Jefferson to be far too busy with work to even begin to think about finishing work at anything resembling a reasonable hour.

"Josh," Jefferson replied simply, returning his attention to the various pieces of paper he had on the living room coffee table. As Josh looked closer he could see that they were all for houses for rent in Del Oro.

"What's all this? You're not thinking of moving, are you?" Josh said as he picked up one of the pages and looked at it.

"It's not for me, Josh. It's for you. Given what has...happened I don't think living in dorms for your next - or any - year of college will be wise."

Josh grimaced and dropped the piece of paper he had been holding. "So, tell me Dad, just _when_ were you planning on telling me this?"

"In about three hours from now," Jefferson said, standing up and walking towards Josh to stand in front of him. "Josh, you know what you're capable of now. Can you really see yourself keeping control twenty-four/seven? You're still learning what you can do and how to control it. We're not even sure what your full capabilities are.

"It'd be much better - and safer - for you to be in a rented place. Not to mention, if you are still focused on becoming an INTEC agent, you can't exactly venture in and out of your dorm at all hours."

Josh stayed silent, annoyed but understanding where his father was coming from. It was true, even if he did still have a couple of months to get everything worked out. "What about Laura, and Pete? Could they move in?"

"Emphatically no. Could you imagine them questioning where you're going when you're heading out on a mission? No, it needs to be you and you only."

Josh sighed as Jefferson turned around, beginning to clean up the pieces of paper. Josh had noticed that most of them were places in the Wipeout; not exactly the safest place in Del Oro, but with superhuman abilities...?

Josh stepped forward, picking up a few pieces of paper to help his dad, surreptitiously glancing at the details and, more importantly, the cost of some of the places picked out. Josh mentally winced as he saw the per-month costs of some, but said nothing initially as he handed the papers back to Jefferson.

"I'm just wondering, how am I going to afford these places?" Josh asked after a couple of minutes just as Jeff was depositing all the paper on the kitchen table instead. He had a strong feeling that the next time he glanced into the kitchen all the paper would be neatly filed and stored, but currently there were in a little tidier mess than they had been on the living room coffee table.

"I can help with the initial costings, but if you're sensible and choose a reasonably priced place you should be able to afford it yourself after a couple of months. You do have a job at INTEC, after all, and that should help you afford it."

[ - ]

Rachel only briefly glanced up from her desk where she was working on some paperwork - she knew that people only walked into the room if they had a real reason to, so there was little risk of her being disturbed in her important work by idle chatter or workplace gossip. As she glanced up and saw just who had entered the room, she took a quick look at the clock on her computer. Either that was a few minutes slow or Max had decided to arrive for their meeting early.

"Sit down," Rachel said, ignoring Max as she scooped up the paperwork on her desk and placed it, blank side down, on her left-hand side. She didn't want Max accidentally uncovering some facts or information he wasn't cleared to read (and, as she thought of that, also made a mental note to check if Max had been given any security clearance as of yet). She didn't say anything for a few more moments, instead choosing to quickly organise her desk and move her computer screen to the side to give herself a clear, unfettered view of her new partner.

"You're early," she said when she finally spoke again, making Max jump a little. She cast a cool eye over him, ascertaining his potential capabilities.

"I was in the neighbourhood?" Max offered weakly, not missing the slight eye-roll Rachel gave that response. She instead focused him with an intense look - not a glare, just a look - and under her green-eyed gaze Max very quickly got the feeling that he was being scrutinised, tested, and found failing.

"Mr. Steel," Rachel began. "INTEC is a private organisation which holds itself in very high regard. While it may not have the age or legacy other counter-terrorism organisations have, we still do our jobs with pride and the knowledge and expectation that everyone will do their jobs to the best of their ability. We cannot have quick jabs and thoughtless quips needlessly and carelessly thrown about - this is a place of work, work of the utmost importance in protecting this country and its national interests both here and abroad, not a college party."

Throughout the whole of her speech she never looked away, never wavered or hesitated, and Josh wondered just how many agents she had given that or similar talks to. Max swallowed nervously as Rachel looked away from him, seemingly satisfied in what she had said to him. She stood up and picked up a sheaf of papers which had been placed on top of her computer monitor and placed them on the desk, sliding them right-side up towards Max, accompanied by a pen a few seconds later.

"This is your last, easy chance to change your mind. Once you've signed these if you decide at a later date you wish to back out we will have to follow numerous policies and protocols to ensure you are fully excluded from our records."

Max looked at her, eyes connecting, and Rachel saw a spark of determination which made her smile. A little. She'd reserve full judgement until later. Max picked up the pen and scanned the first page of paper Rachel had handed him - luckily the main points were either highlighted or, if the document was long enough, summarised and the summary highlighted. As he read, Rachel pointed out the various declarations and acknowledgements he needed to sign - there weren't that many documents but each one needed at least two signatures, and so it was quite some time before they both finished.

"Welcome to INTEC, Mr. Steel," Rachel said after Max had signed the last page. She took the papers back from him, arranged them into a neat pile, and slipped them into an empty folder. "Those documents will be sent down to Personnel and they should have them filed and finalised within a few days; as for now, we need to get you officially logged in to the system." Keeping a hold on the folder, Rachel stood up and walked around the desk, opened the door, and strode out confidently, expecting Max to follow behind with no questions.

Which he did.

[ - ]

Max couldn't help himself - he pulled out his newly laminated security card and looked at it. His picture was affixed in the top right-hand corner and a ton of information was printed in text so small he wondered if anyone would need to use a microscope to read it. In the bottom-left corner, almost diametrically opposite his picture, was the INTEC logo - looking almost like a sideways power button, it was simply a 'C' with a sideways 'I' cutting through the open space, all of it in dark blue. He'd idly wondered if spy agencies _needed_ logos, but that was the least of his concerns at the moment.

He did manage to decipher that one of the nuggets of information on the card was his codename, 'Phaelon'. He had been intending to use his father's old codename but, after Berto's revelation of the fact that Josh would be able to change his name, he'd simply used that as his alter-ego's surname (his first name was simply from the nanoprobes - MX translated to 'Max' pretty easily).

He was finally walking through the hallways of INTEC as a fully-official agent with his information entered in to access panels (of the sections he had been authorised to access), security clearance (level two; rather low but he was certain if it needed to be increased, it would), and his assigned partner...which was just why he was walking through the hallways of INTEC. Rachel had requested a meeting to get Max up to speed after their previous meeting, and he had no option but to agree - for one, he did need to know more about the place, and for another he also needed to know more about his partner if the two of them were to work together in the organisation. He did wonder just what they needed to discuss - he had been under the impression that anything that needed to be discussed would have been discussed in their previous meeting (or at least, he had assumed that what had been discussed was the _only_ important stuff).

One thing he did notice was just how crowded INTEC was - he was passing dozens of people in the corridors, and although some of them (most specifically the older agents) were looking at him a little oddly, he paid no heed to it. He did have to stop himself from wandering over and talking to a couple of people he recognised, reminding himself that it was _Josh _who knew them, and he was currently _Max_. Jefferson had started introducing Josh to some of the more intricate details of N-Tek the year he turned sixteen, fully expecting that Josh would someday have a position in the company - and even if he didn't the boss' son still needed to be paraded around and introduced to various shareholders and business facilitators lest Jefferson be accused of 'holding out' on them. Josh, despite being a people person, had struggled to keep a smile on his face in the first year he was introduced to the higher-ups, but gradually had gotten used to it as just one of those things.

Max did have to wonder just what would have happened if he hadn't found out about N-Tek's other work - he couldn't have a reasonable position of authority in the company if he only knew half of what it did. He absently thought about what the implications were of 'Josh' being an N-Tek employee and 'Max' being an INTEC employee - 'Josh' wouldn't know of INTEC's existence, yet he couldn't be 'Max' in both sections of the company without a lot of questions being asked...some of which were probably being whispered by some of the agents he passed by.

Only those he'd be working with closely would be informed of his double identity - he and Jefferson had managed to reach an agreement on that front, as well as just which sections of the company each of his identities would work for. He had to admit it was quite tricky remembering to respond to Max, although he hoped it would become more natural as time went on. He had tried to get himself accustomed to that fact by mentally picturing and referring to himself as Max whenever he was in his agent identity, and Josh in his civilian identity.

Max reached Rachel's office and stood in front of the door, exhaling nervously. He double-checked his watch, making sure he was exactly on time, and knocked on the door.

"Come in," Rachel called, and Max opened the door. He took two steps in to the room before pausing where he stood - Rachel was in her usual seat in the office, but the chair in which he had sat a couple of days ago was now occupied by a young Hispanic scientist.

Both Rachel and Berto had looked towards the door when Max had entered; Rachel her usual calm self, Berto looking rather anxious and worried. Max took another step in to the room and closed the door behind him; as the door clicked shut, Rachel spoke.

"Now that we're all here, we can make a start. I'm sure the two of you have been introduced before," she said, indicating Max and Berto. "And it turns out that Mr. Smith was so impressed with your work, Dr. Martinez, that he has offered you a permanent promotion.

"Welcome to Team Steel."

[ - ]

As the meeting finished, Rachel dismissed Berto; he nodded, thankfully, before dashing out of the room and hurrying along the corridors of INTEC, in all likelihood scurrying back to the lab area.

"Shall we?" Rachel said a few moments later as she held open the door for Max. Without a word, the two of them headed out the room and back into the corridors where Max had been barely fifteen minutes before. Barely any of the agents Max had seen on his way to Rachel's office had moved, and some were still looking in their direction - however, Max was relieved to note, it seemed to be that they were staring at both of them, not just himself this time.

A quick glance over at Rachel showed she was paying no heed to any of the quick glances or long looks, and Max tried to do his best to also ignore them.

"INTEC is quite a large building," Rachel began. "For the time being I'll be showing you around the main sections of the building and also the areas you're most likely to frequent. You'll have time to find and discover the other areas at a later date."

After that, the two of them walked mostly in silence, the looks and whispers Max could see and hear gradually dissipating until everyone had seemingly had their fill and instead resumed their usual work.

Rachel had pointed out the cafeteria, meeting rooms, and also access to the lab (as she suspected he would be venturing down there quite a bit) and were currently heading to the gym which seemed to be quite a popular destination: as they walked towards it they saw a good handful of people trickling in, and also some heading out.

One agent caught his attention though: multiple piercings on her ears, a nose and eyebrow piercing, and bright blue bangs - not the kind of image he'd associate with an agent.

"Ms. Ryan, a word if you please," Rachel called out, walking towards the blue-haired agent. Max swore he saw an eye-roll from the other agent and tried did his best to stifle a smile - he didn't succeed, however, and the other agent saw. She winked at him just as Rachel came to a halt in front of the other agent.

Rachel kept her voice low as she conversed with the other agent, doing her best to avoid anyone else in the vicinity hearing what she was saying. However, as "anyone else" included a nano-enhanced agent with superhuman hearing, that was impossible.

"I had expected your after-action report from Michigan on my desk yesterday afternoon, Kat; it appears that, once again, you've neglected to write one."

Kat shrugged, nonplussed and not at all bothered by the fact that she was being told off. "It'll be on your desk by the end of the day. Promise."

Rachel tensed up at that; evidently the wrong thing for Kat to say, but Rachel made no comment about it. The two locked gazes for a few seconds before Rachel spoke. "All right, Kat, but I expect that report on my desk by the end of the day, as promised."

"Sure, Rachel." Kat looked over at Max and smirked. "By the way, I didn't know you were up for training newbies again, thought you said it was effectively beneath you as a field commander."

"This is a special case, Kat."

That was the wrong thing to say; Max could almost see the connections firing in Kat's mind, a quick glance back at him, and she raised her eyebrows in surprise. "_This_ is Josh McGrath? The boss' kid?" Kat whistled. "Ambitious, Leeds. Very, very ambitious...and so like you."

"It wasn't my suggestion. In fact, as I was being informed of the full situation Mr. Smith did in fact inform me that there were quite a few other agents who were being considered for his partner."

"Like who?"

"You." Rachel smiled as Kat scowled. "Yes, I thought as much. Training newbies may be 'beneath me' as a field agent, like you said, but you have no interest in training anyone at all."

"Yeah, well, I've got to hit the treadmill. _Some_ of us need to keep up with important work rather than being a glorified tour guide." Kat threw a quick wave in Max's direction before heading into the gym, and Rachel sighed. She took a moment to compose herself before returning to Max's side.

"Shall we continue on?" she said, either oblivious to the fact that Max had heard the whole conversation...or simply didn't care if he had.

[ - ]

Max was beginning to reach the limit of his patience. He'd been going through various physicals (modified and supervised by Berto to take in to accommodation his enhanced abilities; he couldn't go through the usual exercises other agents did unless they wanted him to simply breeze through him) and trial/holographic missions, but nothing was up to standards.

Scratch that, nothing was up to _Rachel's_ standards. If he did something (according to her) too quickly, he then adjusted his pace for the next session. There, she'd tell him that he wasn't quick _enough_. Took the time to think things through? He needed to be able to act quickly. Acted quickly? She said he didn't think things through _properly_. He was fast beginning to reach the point where he felt like throwing his arms up into the air and exclaiming that he didn't know what she wanted and that it felt like she was changing the goalposts when it suited her.

He didn't say that, however, as he had the feeling that if he expressed any discontent he would be kicked out, or at least reassigned. While the thought of having someone not as strict and inflexible as Rachel was appealing he wasn't completely sure it'd be _good_.

In stark contrast to his annoyance and frustration, Rachel just seemed bored. She'd continuously asked for a repeat or re-do of a mission and, after telling Max just what he'd done wrong (notably leaving out what, if anything, he had actually done right). In fact, this was just one of many, numerous times this had occurred.

"Restart mission," Rachel commanded, and the walls and buildings surrounding Max and Rachel shimmered and disappeared. The two of them were left standing in a large, empty space with numerous microscopic holographic projectors embedded in the walls, ceiling and floor. Max braced himself for Rachel to inform him what he had done wrong this time, but to his surprise she said nothing.

After a minute the buildings shimmered back in to existence, this time accompanied with various people walking around - back to the start of the _Del Oro Takeover_ mission that they had been running through for the past day, and also the one Max had just 'failed'. The mission had reset to the exact same details as he had seen half an hour ago, and he was starting to get sick of seeing the downtown area.

"Let's try again," Rachel said, and Max stifled a groan. He wondered just how easy it would be to bribe Berto in to sabotaging the training room, even to just give him a day's break from it.

[ - ]

"Are you serious? Come on!" someone said, laughing.

"Completely," another said, joining in with the laughter.

Max was in the cafeteria, having finally worked his way through enough of the mission to take him up to a lunch break; Rachel had headed off on her own, saying that she had some paperwork she needed to sort out, and left Max to head to the cafeteria on his own.

Hence how he was now at a table with a few other new recruits, all of them sharing stories and trading tales of their experiences so far. INTEC didn't operate on any kind of recruitment schedule so all of the new recruits were at various stages of training; Roy Geisler was the oldest of the group and was nearly complete in his training, while Max was the youngest. There were six of them currently huddled around the table: Roy, Leila Cossan, Juan Valle, Ashton Skinner, and Anna Kristiansen. Even knowing them for only a few days, Max had picked out and noted their distinguishing features well enough that if he was to pick them out of a line-up of similar-looking people, he felt he'd be able to do so with ease.

"It is intense," Roy continued, taking a sip of his cola before continuing on. "Just you wait, Anna, it'll be your turn before you know it."

Anna made a face, causing Roy to smirk. "Urgh, no thanks. I don't like the idea of spending time wading through a sewer, even if it is only a holographic one. At least they're not able to replicate the _smell_ of one yet."

"Yet."

"So, we've been trading our horror stories, Steel. What about yours?" Anna said, turning to look at Max.

Max hesitated, unsure of what to say. "Well, I've been run ragged and exhausted through all of my training. Nothing I do is good enough for my partner, Rachel -"

"Wait," Leila said. "Rachel? As in Rachel _Leeds_?"

"Yes...?" Max said, frowning.

"Damn." Leila lent back in her chair. "Hugins says she never trains new agents, not for a good few years and certainly not since she was made field commander. You must be pretty exceptional to make her break that record."

Max shrugged, embarrassed. "I didn't ask to be assigned to her. If you want the full story, you'll have to ask her instead of me."

That discussion point finished - for the time being, at least - the group of new recruits went back to idle chatter, discussing minor things among them. Max was one of the people jumping in with new topics to discuss whenever anyone else ran short and he quickly became unaware of how much time had passed.

"Hey, isn't that Rachel Leeds there?" Juan said, looking over Max's shoulder towards the entrance of the cafeteria. Max paled and glanced over his shoulder; sure enough, Rachel Leeds was there, quickly scanning the cafeteria and, upon finding Max, walked towards him.

"I'm in trouble," Max muttered quietly, only Leila (who was sitting next to him) hearing what he'd said. Once Rachel was within earshot, Max plastered on a disarming smile, albeit with little hope that it would actually work.

"Hey, Rachel. What's up?"

Rachel frowned slightly - which, as Max had noted, was about the extent of irritation she ever showed. She didn't say anything until she was standing next to the table, all the other new recruits looking up at her a little concerned - all discussion had stopped when she was within earshot.

"We were scheduled to meet in the training room fifteen minutes ago; I came here to see if I could find where you had gone."

Without waiting for any response or any expectation that Max might _not_ follow her, Rachel turned and headed back to the entrance of the cafeteria.

Leila whistled softly. "Good luck, Max."

"I think I needed that about two weeks ago," Max said in reply before he stood up and followed Rachel. Once he was out of normal earshot, the conversation at the table he'd vacated started up again, and Max hid a smile when all of the new recruits starting discussing both him and Rachel; however, he was too far away to hear without distracting himself and having Rachel realise what he was doing when they started to get into more details.

[ - ]

Josh winced as he tried to settle in to a more comfortable position - he was back home, resting on the sofa, finally having a day off after his rather strenuous, gruelling week, and although he had been checked out in the med bay could swear that he had at the very least bruised his ribs, as that's where the pain was emanating. He was thankful that he even had the day off, although he was wondering if it was for his benefit or Rachel's - he certainly felt like he would break if he went through any more training without a break, so at the moment didn't really care.

Rachel had begun to relax...a little. Once Max had started following her commands (and he'd started to figure out just what events and actions were within her very narrow band of 'good work') she'd relaxed a little. His pace and progress of training was also starting to level out rather than continually increasing day on day and was - for once - feeling a little confident about his abilities. Maybe there was a small, upside to what had happened to him.

Josh picked up the remote from the coffee table, wincing as the pain in his side started up again, protesting at Josh for forcing it to work, and Josh flicked through the channels on the television until he could find something he could stand tolerate for more than five minutes, and dialled down the volume. He was getting a little better at being able to switch 'off' his abilities, but there were still a few times he forgot - thankfully, so far the only damage was to his bedroom door handle and half a dozen eggs (which, while annoying and necessitating a trip to buy more, wasn't bad in the grand scheme of things).

Being a Wednesday, the house was cleaner than it would be for the week, until the next Wednesday. The cleaner, Yolanda, had finished her work for the day earlier and had left a couple of hours early, noting but not making a comment on Josh having pretty much sat in front of the television for the entirety of her visit. Jefferson and Josh were, between them, capable enough to keep the place clean but between Jefferson's erratic and unusual working hours at INTEC and Josh being in school most of the year they found it difficult to find the time.

Josh stared at the television for an indeterminate amount of time, not really paying attention to what was being shown, only that it was mildly interesting and distracting and not filled with too much blood, gore and guts.

He was pulled out of his daydream when the doorbell rang; thinking it might have been Yolanda forgetting to take something with her, Josh walked over to the door (wincing when his ribs protested) and opened it without checking who was standing there.

In hindsight, he probably should have checked first.

"Hey Josh, how you been?" Pete said, only finishing speaking just as he brushed past Josh and into the house.

"You know, it's rude to enter someone's house without an invitation," Josh said, closing the door and turning around to face Pete. At least, he would be facing Pete if Pete hadn't decided to walk across the hallway and into the living room, sitting down on the sofa in front of the television. Josh rolled his eyes good-naturedly and followed Pete.

"I take it you've been getting my messages?" Josh said.

"Yeah, but I'm sick of playing telephone tag time. What kind of stuff are you doing at N-Tek that's keeping you occupied so much?"

Josh shrugged before sitting down on the sofa next to Pete. "Just stuff. Mainly paperwork and resources but it's still pretty boring."

"And that takes up your time?" Pete snorted. "Well, I'm glad you're actually here today - feels like I've spent the past _month_ ringing the doorbell and having your cleaner answer. You know she almost lost your cat the other day?"

Josh looked at Pete, a little sceptical. "No."

"She'd forgotten she'd locked it in the kitchen while she cleaned the rest of the house. It wasn't until she went back in there to collect her stuff that she found it." Having got that out of the way, Pete turned to a different subject. "The main reason I've been trying to contact you is because I need my workout partner back. You fancy hitting the park or the rec center?"

Josh smiled ruefully. "Sorry, Pete, maybe some other time."

Pete raised his eyebrows. "You're kidding. I thought you would have jumped at the chance after being stuck in a stuffy building for days on end."

"Compromise? You can kick my butt at video games instead."

"Yeah, sure. At least I'll have something to do."

Josh stood up from the sofa and walked over to where a slim games console and a small pile of games were. He plugged it in, turned it on, and checked that the controllers had enough battery power. He picked out a random game (which turned out to be a two-year old soccer game) and put that in, scrolling through a few options (Pete having turned the TV to the correct channel for the console).

Satisfied that everything was set up okay, Josh walked back to the sofa and handed one of the controllers to Pete. The game started up and, when the two of them were making choices and changing options for their teams, Pete started up the conversation again.

"So...heard from Laura recently?"

"It's only been a couple of weeks, Pete. She's probably not even _seen _dry land since she set off. Given how many people are on the boat, I doubt she's going to get much access to the telephone or the internet. She gave me her schedule and she'll be making a land stop in about a week; I'll probably hear something from her then."

"So you're not worried she's going to get all _alone_ without being able to talk to you, find someone else, or even decide the frozen, cold wastelands of Alaska are the most beautiful place in the world and want to stay there instead of coming back to California? Heck, she could settle down with whoever she meets on her internship!"

"Ha, ha, Pete," Josh said, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"Hey, I'm just sayin'," Pete said, holding his hands up in mock-surrender. He pressed the 'start' button on his controller, confirming his choices, and Josh did the same a moment later. "I am gonna kick your ass, McGrath."

"You wish, Costas."

[ - ]

A/N: Rather a long set-up, but the action starts next chapter with the first of the _Strangers_ chapters. Stay tuned :)


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

Max flew over a bright, gleaming city, occasionally glancing to the side to catch some sight or other. He was in a small, two-seater plane codenamed _Hawk_ and on his first official, international mission for INTEC. He glanced back to the front of the cockpit, making a note of the myriad of buttons and levers in front of him - he'd been given instructions and a crash course on flying it, and also informed that if anything were to go wrong Berto, back at base in the Team Steel Ops room, would be able to take control using remote access. Normally, Berto would be visible in the three-inch screen at the very centre of the control panel, but not for Max.

Still, the very idea of flying a small plane on his own was quite exhilarating - he'd done skydives and other similar events before, and was even working towards becoming a qualified BASE jumper, but this was something different. He wasn't subject to the whims of another person or even gravity; if he wanted to go somewhere, he could (fuel and general requirements/limitations notwithstanding).

As Max flew past another large building, glancing back to get a better, longer look at it, a voice spoke in his head.

"Having fun, _hermano_?"

"Just enjoying the view, Bro," Max replied with a grin. It had taken him a little while but he had gotten used to randomly hearing a voice speaking inside his head. He was just thankful that when the scientists had connected it all up they had remembered to put in a large "off" switch - he didn't want _all_ his actions monitored, thank you very much.

"Getting nervous?" Berto continued after a few seconds, just as Max returned his gaze to the front of the plane.

"Nah, not even close. What would I have to be nervous about?"

"I can tell you're lying - or at least a little nervous." Berto said. "I can and do monitor your heart rate and breathing, remember?"

"Okay, yeah, maybe I am a little nervous," Max relented. "This is my first full mission - isn't everyone nervous at this point."

"I wouldn't know. I'm a scientist; I don't go on missions."

"Oh, come on bro. You're a tech genius; surely you've got your ear to the electronic pulse - or whatever - and have heard all the gossip?"

Berto said nothing; the silence stretched out almost uncomfortably for a couple of minutes.

"Reichstag building should be coming in to view," Berto said, now all business and breaking the silence.

"I see it," Max said after looking out and seeing the building. The dome on top was quite imposing but also quite noticeable in among the other, somewhat more modern buildings. Max quickly flew over the park in front of the building before hovering to a halt just over the top of the roof.

"Remember, your job in this is to be floor security," Berto began, but Max tuned him out. As the scientist spoke, Max popped the lid on _Hawk_ and grabbed a grappling hook from his belt. He stood up, aimed the hook towards the building, and felt it latch on. Happy that it was secure, Max jumped out of the plane and swung on to the dome of the Reichstag building.

"When you exit, make sure to park the _Hawk_ somewhere inconspicuous and in stealth mode; I'll set it on autopilot to..." Berto trailed off, having only just noticed what Max was doing; with no pilot on board, the _Hawk_ began to dive down dangerously towards the Reichstag. However, Berto managed to switch to autopilot and regain control before anything could happen. Being a quarter of the way across the world, Berto could do little to nothing else.

Well, he could talk.

"Phaelon, what are you doing?"

"Surveillance," Max replied calmly. "Just as requested."

As _Hawk_ flew off, starting its return journey to Del Oro, Berto muttered something in Spanish, and for once Max was glad he'd neglected his Spanish classes in high school - he was highly doubtful that was Berto was currently muttering was anything flattering, and strongly suspected that there might have been a curse word or two implanted there as well. Instead, he chose to take a quick glance around at the city without it being obscured through the view of Plexiglas.

"Bro, check out the view. I can see the Berlin Wall from here!"

"The Berlin Wall was pulled down in 1989; it's possible that you're seeing a remnant of the wall itself, but -"

"Maybe it's another wall then," Max cut in, not wanting an overly-long history lesson. He turned around, changing his view from the cityscape to instead looking through the glass ceiling on the dome of the Reichstag. Where he was standing the dome was fairly flat, but if he wandered too far away from the centre where the dome started to curve significantly, he'd run the risk of slipping and falling however many feet, either to the flat roof of the building or to the pavement below. As a precaution, he fixed the grappling hook to his belt and knelt down, watching the actions of the people below him.

The majority of seats were willed with various dignitaries from all across the globe, with some people meandering in and either finding their reserved spot on their own or needing to ask one of the security personnel that were patrolling the edge of the room. A large number of the security personnel were the Reichstag's own security, but a few of them were disguised INTEC agents.

One of those agents Max was focusing his attention on right now. Rachel was almost opposite the entrance of the room, standing completely still and with her arms by her sides

"Patch me through to Castle," Max said, hearing only the various clacking of keys on the keyboard as his response. After a moment he heard some faint hissing (a sound which would be unnoticeable to anyone else) and a 'click' informed him that the switch to allow him to connect to Rachel's frequency had connected.

"Hey Castle, I'm in position," Max said, still keeping a watch on her.

"Very good, Phaelon, but I'm not in a position to chat," she replied, holding up a hand to her headset. The headsets were modified, lightweight versions of the ones used on missions by INTEC - these ones had been slimmed down and simplified and given to all security personnel in the Reichstag, INTEC agents or not. "In case you've forgotten, idle chit-chat was not one of the specifications for this assignment."

Max saw Rachel glance around the room, checking to see if she could find just where Max was positioned. When she didn't find him, she started to put up a hand towards her headset to speak, but Max spoke before she could.

"Look up," Max said simply, and Rachel did so - slowly and calmly, as if she was just looking to take in the view of the night sky beyond the dome. To her credit, when she saw where Max was she remained composed, although she did start speaking again.

"Phaleon, you are supposed to be _inside_ of the building, not on top of it. There is a good probability you till be spotted in your current position, unlike everyone else who has assumed their proper positions in the building as floor security. Furthermore, if you are discovered there _will _be awkward questions asked."

Max was tempted to argue - even had a half-formed idea in his mind of just how he could start reasoning to Rachel that, risks aside, this was a good position to be in - but from the strict look on her face (which he gathered anyone would be able to see), no argument would make any difference.

"Resuming position as floor security," Max said calmly. "Hey, bro, can you bring the _Hawk_ around again?"

"I can do," Berto said typing some things up on the computer. "However, it's currently ten minutes away; it was directed back on an autopilot flight path to California after Max's..."

"Stunt?" Rachel said, sounding not at all surprised. She sighed before continuing on. "Phaelon, resume your position as soon as you are able to do so."

Max sat down on the dome of the Reichstag and Rachel resumed her role as security. As both Max and Rachel waited for _Hawk_ to return (Rachel largely a confirmation that Max was heading to where he should be), the last of the delegates filed in and took their seats. After some time to allow people to settle in, the general-secretary stood up at the front of the room and began the meeting.

"My fellow colleagues. We are all aware of the many threats levied against this conference, but we cannot let terrorists bog down discussions of security and liberty."

A small smattering of applause went around the room, and Max tuned them out; instead, he returned his gaze to the sky, watching the moon and stars above. He glanced back occasionally just to check what was going on, but otherwise was just biding his time.

"How much longer, Bro?" Max asked after a few minutes, standing up and walking about to stretch his legs.

"ETA on _Hawk_ is two minutes, _hermano_."

"Wonderful," Max muttered to himself, taking another glance in to the Reichstag. As he did so a blast of brilliant white light hit him, making him automatically lean back and raise an arm to shield his eyes. It was to little avail as the intensity of the light still hit him.

"Max!" Berto yelled over the bio-link, but got no response. He called a couple more times until the light dissipated and Max was able to concentrate on something other than that.

"I'm still here. What was that all about?" Max rubbed his eyes, trying to get the bright spots to disappear before thinking that perhaps looking back in to the dark night sky would help.

"I have no i... Wait! Turn back; go to where you were looking before."

Max did as he was told, looking back at the Reichstag with more than a little apprehension. He initially wondered just what Berto had seen that he hadn't, but as soon as the room came in to view he knew, and both he and Berto spoke at the same time.

"They're gone."

"Everyone's disappeared."

[ - ]

"Martinez to Mairot! Martinez to Mairot!" _Pick up!_ Berto thought to himself as he paused for breath. "Martinez to -"

"Mairot here. What is it, Doctor?"

Berto breathed a sigh of relief; however, he had little idea how he'd approach the subject of what had just happened. "Sir, we have a problem in Berlin," he continued after a few seconds. "Everyone on the Reichstag floor has...vanished."

"Vanished?" Berto could hear a note of surprise in Mairot's voice, and that didn't bode well. "What about Rachel?"

At that moment, Berto could have almost hit himself for making such a simple error. He quickly called up references to the AV links in Rachel's communication and tracking devices, hoping that there'd be something there to enlighten him (and Max and Mairot) as to where she was and what might have happened.

However, the screen remained blank and no sound emanated from the console other than the typical whirring of the fan. Rachel's tracking signal was also missing; a zoomed in section of Berlin showed Max's signal to be where he was, but there was no sign of Rachel's anywhere.

"There's nothing, sir. No audio, no visual, and I've lost her tracking signal."

"I'm on my way."

The link between Berto and Mairot closed, and Berto slumped in his seat. This was not turning out to be a good start _at all_, and as Berto heard the sound of glass breaking he knew that things were only going to get worse.

Looking up at the main monitor, Berto could see from Max's point of view what was happening - he was just glad he didn't get vertigo as otherwise the sight of Max effectively rappelling down in to the Reichstag would have made him feel dizzy and faint. He was still a good thirty feet away from the floor, broken glass littering the various desks and chairs which had been occupied only minutes before.

"Mairot said to wait," Berto said a little peevishly, getting the feeling that Max wouldn't overly care.

"Really? That's strange, I didn't hear him." If Berto could have seen Max's face, he would have seen the smirk. As it was, Berto suspected it but didn't say anything - Max was partially right, he wouldn't have heard Mairot as Berto didn't loop him in to the conversation. However, the fact that Max had decided to take things in to his own hands immediately wasn't the best of ideas.

Especially when both Berto and Max saw security guards, dressed in black pants and dark blue tops, hurrying in to the room - likely already on alert thanks to the delegates suddenly vanishing in to thin air, they'd probably heard the glass breaking or been alerted to it and had come to investigate. However, without any guns or similar long-range weapons, all they could do was stare until Max made it to the floor.

Max, however, was already prepared. He hit the rewind button on the grappling hook he'd used to lower himself in to the building before letting go and dropping the ten feet or so in to the room. He hit the ground, rolling, and as soon as he could went in to stealth mode.

Now _that_ was worth it, if only for the expressions of shock and horror on the guards' faces when he disappeared from view. However, just because they'd seen him disappear from view didn't mean they thought he had completely disappeared - one of the guards ordered the rest to fan out and search the room, investigating anything that looked suspicious or unusual, no matter how minor it was.

Taking advantage of the temporary chaos, Max stood up and began to walk, slowly and cautiously, towards one of the exits to the room. He almost came close to running in to one of the guards, but some quick thinking and light footwork enabled Max to dodge out of the way, and before too long an exit was in sight.

Berto heard the doors to the Ops room open behind him, but he didn't even look behind to verify who it was. If it was Mairot, excellent. If it was anyone else, unless the lab was five seconds from exploding whatever they wanted to say or ask him to do could wait.

"_Hermano,_ remember, these are normal security guards, not INTEC. Try not to hurt them unless you have to." Berto turned to look at Mairot who, to his credit, kept his face neutral and showing no signs of surprise or annoyance. Then again, with Max one began to get used to the idea of expecting the unexpected.

"Gee, that makes me feel a _whole_ lot better," Max muttered in reply. The guards in the room were still scanning it to see if they could find him, but as everyone had covered pretty much the whole floor and encountered nothing.

"All right, we've found nothing," the main guard said, the one who'd authorised the search in the first place. "We'll be better off focusing our efforts elsewhere."

Max pressed himself against one of the outer walls of the room as the guards trickled out and, once gone, he breathed a sigh of relief. He stepped out of the room and in to the corridor, quickly checking that no one was around before stopping and giving himself a quick break.

Mairot leaned against the console, seeming to look close at some bit of information on one of the screens. After looking at it for a few seconds, he spoke. "Max, bring me up to speed."

"Nothing here, boss," Max said, still keeping his voice as quiet as he could manage. The guards had gone, but there was still the potential they could hear him - stealth wasn't so stealthy when one talked loud enough to have their location pin-pointed. He quickly recapped the events that had occurred, even if he did leave out just how he had gotten in to the building. "I tuned out after a couple of minutes. If _I_ need something to keep myself awake and focused on the meeting, then..." Max trailed off. He turned back to the conference room and looked inside. After quickly checking for a moment, he spoke again.

"Does anything in this room look off to you? Something wrong or missing?"

Berto bit back a quip referencing the broken skylight; Mairot remained silent.

"Nothing from either of you? Look around. There's no coffee cups, no pens. Where's any indication that, ten minutes ago, this room was packed with people attending a meeting? This place is so clean it looks like it's not been used in days."

Berto considered what Max was saying. "Phaelon, focus on one of the conference tables."

Max did as he was asked, walking over to one of the conference tables and staring at it, the main screen on the console filling up with the image of the desk. Typing a couple of commands in to the computer Berto moved it from the main screen to a side screen, bringing up an enhancement program to see if he could detect anything.

"Computer enhancement reveals no fingerprints," Berto said, turning to look at Mairot.

"I'm supposed to believe everyone on the floor was wearing gloves?"

"Not just them," Max said, moving around and looking at some of the other things in the room, Berto putting the view back on the main screen. "Two hundred plus delegates, security...and that's just from today. There must have been thousands, if not tens of thousands of people who've been in this room before - and we're saying _none_ of them have ever touched the desks?"

Max backed away from the desk, kneeling down and looking at the base of the chairs. "And get this, all the chairs are bolted to the floor - why would they need to do that? This is hardly the easiest place to take office equipment from."

Berto and Mairot both were contemplative, but Berto suddenly got a burst of energy, typing on the keyboard and bringing up a schematic of the Reichstag building.

"German government reports that there were renovations on the Reichstag building just last year. There's an historic escape tunnel which leads to some abandoned underground railway lines; it used to be connected to the building but they blocked it off decades ago. It's underneath the parliamentary floor..." Berto trailed off.

"An easy way to get people out without being seen," Max finished. A few seconds later, Mairot's pager went off, he grabbed it and pressed a button, looking down at the screen to read the message.

"L'Etranger, one million dollars a person."

"Well, doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Bets are L'Etranger is the one in charge of this whole scheme. A million dollars per person? That sounds pretty steep."

"Terrorists traditionally ask for high ransoms," Berto supplied. "If the people they're holding to ransom agree the costs, they get more money than they expected. If they're bartered down, it usually ends at a cost that the terrorists anticipated, expected, or wanted in the first place."

Max began to make his way out of the main room again - having had to go back there was now a much larger distance between him and any potential guards he could take the corridors at a quicker pace. There wasn't much to check or keep an eye on, just a long length of plain corridor which branched out towards the end in to multiple corridors.

"The bright light could have easily been a cover for them to move all of the delegates. However, I can't see how they could have easily moved everyone in that short space of time..." Berto mused.

"The closest agents are Blake and Helios, and they are still half an hour away," Mairot said. "As the two of you seem to have everything under control, Max will be in charge until they arrive."

"Me?!" Max exclaimed before remembering where he was and that he was still in stealth mode. Thankfully, no one appeared to have been near enough to hear him.

"Of course." Mairot replied simply before turning and walking out of the ops room. Berto turned, too, and watched Mairot walk out of the room, making certain that he had meant what he'd said and he wasn't about to double back and say that he was just testing Max's reaction or something. When the doors had closed behind Mairot and Berto had counted to fifteen, he knew Mairot was serious.

"This is _insane,_" Max began. "I can't be in charge; this is only my fourth mission."

"You've been complaining about calling the shots since your first mission. What's changed?"

"I'm nineteen," Max replied a little peevishly. "I am supposed to complain, and you're all supposed to ignore me. It's part of being a teenager." Max took a deep breath, looking at the three corridors with absolutely no indication of where he needed to go. "I need you to bring up the schematics of the building again - I need to find where that escape tunnel is and find where everyone went."

[ - ]

In the space underneath the parliamentary floor, the delegates were in various stages of waking up - most had already regained consciousness while others were still unconscious and unresponsive. Those that had already regained consciousness had been moved out of the room, and a new scattering of people were just beginning to wake up, among them one Rachel Leeds.

She opened her eyes, trying to take note of her surroundings, but as soon as she did so the whole room started spinning. She closed her eyes, focusing on remaining calm while she willed the room to stop moving. Being successful, she opened her eyes again just to see a masked man standing on the far end of the room, watching the whole procession with interest. He glanced over and saw Rachel was waking up, and barked an order to one of the guards that had just walked in to the room. He walked up to the masked man and the two exchanged words before the guard walked over to Rachel. All of the guards were wearing simple clothing: black pants and a deep red top, almost looking like the security the Reichstag had.

The guard said nothing as he approached her, just grabbed Rachel by the elbow and yanked her to her feet. He pulled her arms around to the front and cuffed them together as soon as she was standing. As soon as she was more or less steady on her feet and the cuffs were secure, the guard began leading her away. Rachel noticed a few other people were being pulled to their feet and hurried along, causing her to wonder just who had organised and was operating such a large-scale project.

"Wh-what's going on? Who are you?" Rachel stuttered, reaching up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. As she did so, she checked that her tracking device in her earring was still activated (it was), but also found that her comms device had been removed. She kept her eyes focused, intent on taking notes for where she was being taken, but as the route was down a simple, nondescript corridor it was both simple and yet useless - simple in that there seemed to be only one way they were using, but useless because without any major landmarks or identifying features, she would have no idea where she was. She was just being led down a flat, beige tunnel.

Before too long the tunnel began to slope downwards, widening as it did so. Before they reached the end, they joined the end of a fairly short queue of people, all of them with a guard next to them and all of them (as far as Rachel could see) also in handcuffs. She glanced around casually, managing to not attract the attention of her guard, and managed to catch sight of just what they were all being led towards: a station with a rather old-looking underground train.

As Rachel and her guard waited, someone walked up behind the guard and began talking.

"_Put her in the private carriage,"_ he said in French; despite herself, Rachel twisted to look over her shoulder and saw the masked man who, apparently, was in charge of the operation. The masked man looked at Rachel, a sly smile creeping over his features.

"_Yes, sir."_ The guard stepped forward and roughly yanked on Rachel's arm, forcing her to follow him. The two of them broke off from the main queue and instead walked into the platform entrance, heading up the platform towards the front of the train. Everything after carriage three was gradually filling up with people, but the first three were empty with not even a single guard in them. The guard walked up to the door on the second carriage and pulled it open, pushing Rachel in in front of him. She had time to only quickly glance around and see no weapons or anything that even remotely looked like a weapon before the guard forced her down in to a chair in the middle carriage and took the handcuffs off her. Satisfied that his work was done, the guard left the carriage, slamming the door behind him, and walked back up the platform (presumably, Rachel thought, to move someone else on to the train).

After a few minutes of silence, the carriage door opened once again and the masked man stepped in to the carriage. Without saying anything, he closed the door and walked to the middle of the carriage, sitting down opposite Rachel. A few seconds after he had sat down, the train started moving.

The two sat in silence; Rachel not speaking because she didn't need or want to, but as for why the masked man wasn't speaking, she had no idea. Now that she had the time and opportunity to observe him, she began to pick up some obvious traits: a good few inches over six foot tall, very muscular...and an almost skeletal-like face. His eyes were recessed, making Rachel wonder if he even had eyes, and cheeks almost non-existent. Very little lips to speak of, as if she looked hard enough she could see the shape of some of his teeth.

"I apologise for the current accommodations. It can be quite difficult to find appropriate accommodation on such short notice, especially for someone such as yourself. I do, however, assure you that this will be quite temporary.

"Allow me to introduce myself: my name is L'Etranger."

"L'Etranger, 'the stranger'." _How appropriate_, Rachel thought to herself.

L'Etranger chuckled. "To everyone but you, _ma chere_."

[ - ]

"Jeez, how many guards can this place afford to employ? That seems like the twentieth guard I've almost run in to in the last ten minutes!" Max muttered to himself, voicing his frustration but also keeping it as low as he could manage while still being audible to Berto and whoever else might be on the other end of the Bio-Link. He was still in stealth mode; almost had to be given the guards surrounding the Reichstag and the situation. He'd thus had to avoid bumping in to guards or making any excess noise, and the whole 'stealth' aspect of this mission was really starting to get on his nerves.

Thankfully, thanks to Berto's directions and the schematics of the building, Max was coming up across one of the walls which Berto promised led in to the old escape tunnel under the parliamentary floor. Even if Berto hadn't said anything, Max guessed that he would have noticed if he had come across it: compared to the rest of the building it looked pretty new, not as old and faded as the other two walls connected to it.

"You positive this is the place, bro?" Max asked. It couldn't hurt to double-check.

"Positive. Schematics show the escape route is about two meters beyond your current position."

_Time to test that theory_, Max thought, glancing around to make sure there weren't any guards nearby who'd suddenly react to a hole knocked in to a chunk of plaster. Thankfully, none were nearby, and Max took a quick look at his Bio-Link. He had already depleted half of his energy reserves simply skulking around in stealth. He pressed a button on his Bio-Link, feeling a surge of energy rushing through his body - the nicknamed 'Turbo Mode' (and he really needed to get Berto a thesaurus for Christmas, expand his English vocabulary a bit). With another, second, glance behind him just to check no guards had snuck up on him since his last check, Max drew his right fist back and punched a hole in the wall.

He got lucky: his first went through the wall on the first try, and that enabled him to start tearing chunks of plaster from the wall and tossing them on to the floor. Once he'd made a hole just about large enough for him to slip through he turned off turbo mode, stepped through in to the escape tunnel and, once he was out of view from anyone randomly walking by, turned off stealth as well.

"German government is going to have a hell of a time explaining that," Max said largely to himself, but Berto wasn't paying attention anyway; he'd picked up a sequence of Morse code as soon as the hole in the wall was large enough: dot-dash-dot, dot-dash-dot-dot.

R. L. Rachel Leeds.

"I've got a lock on Rachel," Berto said. "Turn left and head down there - that's where her signal is coming from."

"Got it. I'll -"

A sharp ringing sound cut through the silence, startling both Max and Berto. Max quickly looked around to find the source, only to see that it was emanating from his Bio-Link.

"Only me, Rachel and Mairot know the frequency to your Bio-Link, and seeing as Mairot and myself would contact you directly..."

Without hesitation, Max pressed a button on his Bio-Link, accepting the incoming call and not even thinking about how odd it was that Rachel was able to call him on it, nor the fact that she was calling instead of using the INTEC comms devices.

"Rachel?"

"Rachel? Josh, who's Rachel?"

At that sound of those words, a ball of dread knotted itself in Max's stomach. _Perfect timing..._"Laura, is that you?"

"Who...else would it be? Aside from this 'Rachel' person."

"Didn't I tell you about her? She's the lady handling publicity for the Del Oro Extreme."

"I thought her name was Margaret?"

Max winced; he took a couple of steps forward, reminding himself that he _should_ be on his way looking for Rachel. "Margaret's her last name."

"Oh, yeah. I guess I forgot. Three months is way too long to be apart. I've missed you."

"Can't argue there."

"Well, that's the main reason I called. My internship's finished, we've docked in Alaska and we'll be flying back overnight to Del Oro. Could you pick me up from the airport in the morning?"

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah, tomorrow. Oh, my flight's boarding, I'd better go. I'll see you tomorrow. Love you, bye." Before Max could even think to formulate a response to what Laura had said, the line clicked and the call ended, leaving Max standing in silence. As soon as the call was over, though, Max sighed and hit his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Let me guess," Berto said, sounding more than a little annoyed and snarky. "You forwarded _your_ home phone to _my_ console so you wouldn't miss any personal calls?"

"It seemed like a good idea at the time..."

[ - ]

Rachel wasn't quite sure how long they had been travelling on the train, only that L'Etranger was trading small talk and the occasional joke or quip with her, in between conversing with his guards in French when they made their rounds. Rachel suspected that L'Etranger was talking in French under the assumption that Rachel wouldn't be able to understand or translate what they were saying - unbeknownst to him, however, Rachel had been studying French since she could remember and was fluent in it, able to hear and translate everything that had been said.

However, they'd discussed nothing major, simply reports that everything was going as schedule and the occasional comment about subduing an unruly or disruptive passenger. However, the most recent comment made by one of the guards was quite telling: informing L'Etranger that they should be at their rendezvous point in an hour. Once the guard had left, L'Etranger once again turned his attention to Rachel, just like he had done all the previous times.

"I realise that in all our discussions you have yet to give me a name," he said, surprising Rachel.

"Why would you want my name?"

"You intrigue me, _ma bichette_. We had lists of all the guards employed at the Reichstag building for this night, along with profiles and pictures; you, however, were not on it. Given the high security required for such an event, even if one of the guards did have to switch their work schedule with another, it would not be for a new recruit. The German government would not allow someone newly employed in such close proximity to the delegates.

"So I ask again. What is your name?"

"Rachel." She stared straight at him, not giving him the pleasure of dragging this situation out even further that he had.

"Very well," L'Etranger said, leaning forwards and pulling something out of his jacket pocket; a handheld scanner. He quickly switched it on and began to scan over Rachel - the handheld device beeped a couple of times when it reached her ears. "Your earrings if you please, _ma chere_."

Rachel hesitated: they were currently her only link to INTEC, and if she turned them over...

"I am not a patient man, and I am not a person who takes kindly to asking twice. Your earrings, _ma chere._"

Rachel locked her gaze with L'Etranger's for a second before moving to take her earrings off. She handed them to him and watched as he stood up, walked towards the rear of the carriage, opened a window, and tossed them out.

"Now that I can be sure we won't be tracked - or have our conversation listened in to, I can ask the question I have been meaning to ask since I saw you. Your eyes are very distinctive - in fact, I recall that another member of your family has them, _non_?"

Rachel didn't respond, instead just continuing to look at L'Etranger. She had no idea where he was heading with this, and didn't want to give him any clues, hints, or indication.

L'Etranger chuckled. "Silence can, in the right circumstances, be a much better and more obvious answer than words. You are related to Sir Albert Leeds, are you not? In fact, you are his granddaughter and his heir; as much as he despises you and your actions, you are still his named successor."

"Is there a reason you're trying to fish for a family tree and a story that doesn't exist?"

"Such a specific denial. If my suspicions are true and you are related to him, it will affect this conversation and our future conversations greatly."

[ - ]

The tunnel Max was walking through began to widen, and also noticed a little more light flooding in to the tunnel. He continued walking for a bit longer and found himself walking out of the tunnel and on to an old platform. From the looks of the state of the platform and the walls, it hadn't been used in a long time (as if the plaster holding up the entrance to the tunnel which led down here wasn't enough of a giveaway). Some of the tiles on the floor were loose, and there was paint crumbling from a few sections of the walls. A thick layer of dust covered a good portion of the floor, but also noticeably was quite a few footprints through the dust, the majority heading straight from the entrance of the tunnel to the edge of the platform, but there were some which split off in different directions either to the front or the back of the platform (and thus the train).

Rachel's signal was still broadcasting, and Berto was still commenting that Max was heading in the right direction. However, the fact that they had gotten on a train made things quite complex.

Max jogged down towards the edge of the platform and leaned forwards, looking down along the track to see if he could see anything. He was in luck: the tracks stayed straight for a good distance, and Max could just make out moving lights in the far distance: enhancing his vision he could see more details of the train, including a guard heading back in to the last carriage from the small ledge he had been standing on.

Max jumped down on to the tracks, being careful not to step on any of the lines: he wasn't sure which one was the live rail, and didn't fancy testing it out and being fried by tens of thousands of volts of electricity.

"_Hermano_, I don't think that's the best idea," Berto began as Max began to jog along the line.

"Bro, if you have a better plan to catch up to the train, I'm all ears."

Berto fell silent, allowing Max to cover the distance without distraction. After a short time of running, realising that he wasn't catching up to the train (and, in fact, looked like he was falling behind) he activated his Turbo mode and sped towards the train, quickly reaching it and grabbing on to the handle of the emergency exit.

He pulled himself up, switching Turbo mode off, and glanced inside the carriage. There was nothing but armed guards there - partly good, partly bad.

"Okay, you've caught up with the train. Tag it, and return to the platform. Helios and Blake should be rendezvousing with you shortly, and the three of you can organize a rescue team."

Max jerked back from the window, cursing as one of the guards turned and looked in his direction. He crouched down, looking backwards at the fast-disappearing track as the train continued to move along, hoping that he hadn't been spotted.

No such luck: the door slid open a few moments later, and Max looked up to see one of the guards there with quite the annoyed expression on his face. The guard jabbed something in to Max's back, sending an electrical pulse through his body and causing Max to lose his grip on the train and fall on to the track.

He managed to keep a hold of consciousness for a bit longer, watching the train speed off in to the distance. However, before too long even that modicum of effort was too much and Max fainted, the screen Berto was watching at INTEC going blank.


	6. Chapter 6

Max Steel Redux / UKHoneyB

12

Chapter Six:

Smith watched as Mairot paced around his office: being official INTEC business the two of them were in Smith's INTEC office on the lower-two floor, the wall behind Jefferson's desk being clear plexiglass and showing off, quite nicely, the Pacific ocean and some of its native wildlife. However, Jefferson was barely given enough free time when he was in this office to appreciate it, and he suspected anyone who ventured in also had the same issue. Jefferson and Mairot had been discussing and communicating the information on the Berlin mission between them until Mairot had been pulled away from Berto, and Mairot had just returned to give Smith an update on the progress of the mission.

"You put Max Steel in charge? Jean, what were you thinking?"

"Nez and Murtaugh are already en-route to Berlin," Mairot said, pausing in his pacing. "But they are at least fifteen minutes away; Max is the only operative I have on site. I needed to assign someone to be field commander, at least temporarily. Would you have prefered if I had given that honour to Doctor Martinez?"

Smith didn't answer, so Mairot continued on. "Steel cannot make this mission a success if Doctor Martinez needs to be constantly referring back to me for advice. He is the only one currently available who has any kind of field experience."

"He's just a kid."

Mairot fixed Smith with a steely look - he now knew the main reason behind Smith's objection. "The problem is, he's your kid."

The two of them stood in silence, simply looking at each other. Smith knew Mairot was right but he wasn't wanting to face the truth - Max had been thrown in at the deep end on only his third mission, and Smith dreaded to think how he would manage on his own.

After a short period of time, Mairot's communication device rings again - Smith broke out of his thought and looked over as Mairot picked up the call.

"Mairot."

Berto's face appeared on the screen, looking quite panicked. "Mr. Mairot, Max is down!"

Unknown to Berto, he had been on speaker and Smith had heard what he had said loud and clear. Mairot glanced across the room after acknowledging Berto's information - Smith had sat back down into his desk chair, elbow on the desk and hand pressed against his forehead. In that single moment, Smith looked a lot older than forty-seven.

"I'll be there shortly," Mairot added before ending the link between himself and Berto. Mairot made to leave the room, opening the door leading from Smith's office to the walkways and corridors of INTEC.

"Wait."

Mairot paused, turning to look back at Smith. Smith had stood up and walked partway across the office floor, heading in Mairot's direction.

"I'll come down to the ops room, too."

[ - ]

The door opened to the Team Steel Ops room, Mairot slightly ahead of Smith. Mairot headed up towards the console where Berto was frantically typing away and switching screens to get more information; Smith held back a little, far enough into the room that the door closed behind him, but not so far in that he could see much of what was happening on the console.

"Report."

"His energy levels are okay, but he did use up quite a bit of energy in stealth, his vitals are solid, there's been a slight dent in the number of probes. I imagine something must have knocked them offline, probably whatever knocked Max out. Everything else looks fine, he just needs to wake up."

Smith walked up to where Mairot and Berto were, leaning over the young scientist and looking at the information available on the various monitors Berto had dotted around.

"Have you tried bio-link feedback?"

Both Mairot and Berto turned around to look at Smith; Mairot with a neutral, questioning expression on his face, Berto with a shocked and alarmed look.

"Bio-Link feedback...that'll hurt."

"Permanent damage?" Mairot asked, and Berto hesitated before shaking his head. "Then put him back to work."

Berto learned over to the far right of the console, pressing a seemingly-inconspicuous button that was a reasonable distance away from any other buttons (just to avoid accidental activation). Once pressed, Berto leaned back into his chair and waited. After a few seconds, the main screen flickered back to life, showing the inside of the railway tunnel in Berlin. The other screens, showing Max's vitals and other information continued to report normal functions, and there was a slow but steady uptick in the number of probes in his system once again.

[ - ]

To Max, Bio-Link feedback was the second-worst pain he'd ever felt (the nanoprobes integrating with his system after deciding he'd make an excellent host after their tank got smashed was the first). However, it was still painful enough, and the less times he had to endure it, the better. Berto had tried to explain the purpose behind why they had a 'send an electric shock in to your body' - said something about it giving an extra jolt of energy to stimulate the probes in a danger situation or other techie-speak. However, as far as Max was concerned? It was simply a button to shock him whenever Berto felt like it.

The initial shock had woken up him and for a few seconds he wondered just why he was in a dimly-lit train tunnel, but soon it all came flooding back to him: the mission to Berlin, the kidnapping of the delegates, the ransom, the...

"The train! Rachel!"

"Long gone, _Hermano_," Berto said in what Max assumed was supposed to be a sympathetic tone, but instead sounded a bit like 'you screwed up'. "I'm checking your systems but everything appears to be fine and running and functioning as intended. You've been out for about five minutes.

Max groaned at that news, leaning against the side of the tunnel and closing his eyes, causing the screen in the ops room to turn black.

"Total crash and burn," Max muttered to himself, feeling the energy dissipate from him. If he screwed up this much when he was tasked with being the field commander...

"Phaelon, this isn't your fault."

Max opened his eyes, glancing around at the tunnel again.

"Listen to me. We can still -"

"No, this isn't one of your little chess problems that you can logic out. We're dealing with terrorists, hundreds of hostages, a million and one things which can change or go wrong at a moment's notice. L'Etranger now knows that _someone_ is on to him, and he'll be doing his best to ensure that they're not." Max ran a hand through his hair. "What about Rachel's transmitter? What'll happen if L'Etranger finds that?"

"He hasn't yet."

"He will! What'll happen to Rachel if they find out she's an INTEC agent? What if something happens to her because of me? Bro, I'm out of my depth here - I can't be in charge!"

At those words, Mairot looked over at Smith - this was a perfect opportunity for them to recall Max without any arguments. However, Smith shook his head - Max was okay and currently, that was all that mattered. The two of them turned around and walked out of the room, Berto just about noticing them leaving.

"I'm sending help; head twenty feet down the tunnel."

"What...kind of help?" Max asked, but got no response. Wary, he began to jog down the tunnel only to feel it being rocked by an explosion a few seconds later. Even more confused, Max continued down the tunnel until he saw the 'help' Berto had intended: the _Sparrowhawk_, the emergency escape pod section of the _Hawk_ was hovering just above the tracks in the tunnel, the reason for the explosion now obvious: just above where the plane was was a hole open up to the night sky.

"Berto, you are a genius," Max commented as he climbed into the plane and strapped himself in. He changed the controls from automatic to manual and began to head off down the tunnel, an absent thought in his head being thankful that the tunnel was wider than the wingspan of the plane.

"Locked on to Rachel's signal," Berto said. "Approximate distance, three thousand feet."

Max continued down the tunnel, Berto counting down the distance between himself and Rachel. After a while, the distance between them began to reduce significantly, and before too long Max was quite close to where Rachel was.

"Five hundred feet."

Max frowned; the tunnel had been pretty straight, and he cou;d seen quite the distance down the tunnel. If Rachel was as close as five hundred feet away, he should be able to see some sign of the train, shouldn't he?

The distance continued to reduce until, by all rights, Max should be behind or right on top of the train. Where was it?

Max flew in to a large intersection section, slowing the _Sparrowhawk_ to a halt. There were multiple tunnels branching off the intersection area: the one he'd just come through, three straight ahead, two ahead and to the left, one to the right and (Max looked over his shoulder) three more behind him. Ten tunnels in total.

"This can't be right," Berto said. "According to my readouts, she should be right there."

"Well, she's not. In case you haven't noticed we're missing something that is about three hundred feet long and very obvious to see." Max pushed down the panic which was starting to build, instead doing his best to remain calm and logical. He scanned the intersection, picking up something gleaming faintly in the low light. He climbed out of the plane and ran over to the items, hoping that it wasn't what he thought...however, as he came close to the item, his suspicions were correct. There, lying on the surface of the tunnel floor was Rachel's earrings. He knelt down and picked them up, rolling them around around in his hand as he looked at them.

"I'm sorry, _hermano_. Maybe we can -"

"Shh!" Max said, dropping the earrings. Berto instantly quieted, wondering what Max was doing, but as soon as Berto heard the sound of a moving train, and noticed it was becoming louder, he understood.

"Tunnel three is the best best, the sound seems to be coming from there." Max turned around and climbed back into the _Sparrowhawk_. "If I don't find them, then I'll rendezvous with Blake and Helios."

[ - ]

Rachel had been moved from the private, empty carriage and was now in one of the main carriages with a good number of the other hostages. Rachel did have to wonder at their security: only two guards to the approximately forty delegates in the carriage...however, given that they were speeding through the underground system in Berlin, even if they could overpower the guards in the carriage there was little they could go, and high odds guards from the other carriages would simply come in and take their place.

Rachel watched as another guard walked through the doors into the carriage, saying something to the one standing at the rear of the carriage; moments later, L'Etranger walked through the same doors. Instead of talking to the guard, as Rachel expected him to, he walked over to Rachel and stood in front of her.

"There is a small, one-manned light aircraft following the train along the tunnel. Do you know anything about this?"

"No."

With that simple answer, L'Etranger left, heading back towards the rear of the train, ordering the guards to observe her but otherwise leaving Rachel to mull over what he had just said. A one-manned aircraft? That meant Max was alone. Did he have backup with him? If so, where was it and how far away?

[ - ]

Max breathed a sigh of relief - he'd caught up with the train, cutting the lights on the plane to do his best to avoid being spotted once again. Still a decent possibility, but not as bad as when he had first tried to get onto the train. After a couple of minutes of no one venturing out or even bothering to look through the window, Max crept up on the train. He unbuckled himself from the plane, waiting a few seconds to allow Berto to take control of the aircraft before jumping from the plane onto the train.

He quickly dived to the left and began to climb up the emergency ladder on the right, dragging himself up to rest on the top of the carriage. He made it just before a masked man opened the back door and looked out. He saw nothing, Max being on top of the carriage and Berto having already flown the plane back in the direction they'd come. After a moment the masked man headed back into the carriage, but not before he shoved a guard out.

Max, still lying on the top of the carriage, counted to a hundred seconds before he dared move again. He turned himself around and slid down the ladder, catching the guard standing on the ledge by surprise. The guard grabbed his gun and raised it towards Max, but was too slow. Max grabbed the gun, twisted the guard's wrist, knocked the guard out, and tossed him onto the track below before the guard had even had the chance to get a shot off.

Checking that the safety was on the gun, Max slipped it into his holster before he climbed up onto the carriage once again, careful to make as little noise as he could - there was little use in getting this far if he let himself be caught because he was making too much noise.

He dropped down in the gap between the carriages, glancing first through the window of the carriage he'd just climbed over to make sure no guards had noticed anything - satisfied that they hadn't, he glanced through the window of the carriage in front of him: empty.

He quickly climbed up and over the empty carriage, glancing through the window of the third carriage. He was successful then, seeing some delegates there and also some guards. He hadn't seen the masked man yet - wondered where he'd gone but dismissed the thought. Instead, he activated Turbo and positioned himself on the ledge of the third carriage. He drew his fist back and punched through the coupling of the train, watching as the last two carriages detach from the main train and, without anything providing forward momentum, slow down and eventually stop. Max glanced back into the carriage, trying to see if he could spot Rachel. When he didn't see her, he continued to head up and over the carriage.

[ - ]

Rachel had been spending the time since L'Etranger had left going over her options and what she could potentially do. She was still stuck on the issue that they were on a train in Berlin's underground system - realistically it seemed like her only option was to wait until they got to the rendezvous point and see what she could do then. That or wait and see what Max managed to do.

Almost as soon as she thought that she saw some movement out of the corner of her eye; glancing over to the rear of the carriage she saw Max standing outside the door in the section between the carriage. He nodded his head slightly towards her; she gave no outward indication that she had seen him, simply turning her head back and resuming staring straight ahead, carefully making sure that she didn't make eye contact with anyone else in the carriage.

After some seconds, the back door to the carriage opened and Max strolled through casually. It took a few seconds for the guards to react; when they did, the one at the rear immediately rushed for Max, while the one at the front hurried through the carriage. Max quickly knocked out the guard at the rear, while Rachel easily dispatched the other guard before he was aware she'd even stood up. As Max walked over to where Rachel was, she knelt down and slid the gun the guard was carrying out of its holster. She checked the ammo in the gun (still full), put on the safety, and slid it in to the belt of her suit.

"Miss me?" Max said, and Rachel turned to see him standing there with a confident smile on his face. She didn't return the smile, simply casting a glance around the carriage: their little infraction had thankfully not caused any other guards to come running, although a couple of the delegates were looking at them in confusion.

"The two end carriages have been broken off." Max's smile has disappeared, him being all business now. "There was a bunch of guards in one of them which might explain the lack of them here."

"Did you see a masked man?"

"I did; he checked the rear of the train after I'd climbed on top of the carriage before shoving a guard out to look for me. I didn't see him in either of the carriages, though."

"He's probably further up the train," Rachel mused.

"Did you get a name?"

"L'Etranger."

"Well, now we know the identity of the person in charge of the operation; Mairot got a random request under his name." Max started to head off towards the front of the train. "Further up, right?"

"He passed by a couple of minutes ago. Max," she added, and Max stopped in his tracks, turning around to face her. She was still looking at him a little oddly - a little cautious, a little wary - but he didn't immediately think anything of it. "Our responsibility is to the delegates and to get them out safely. Chasing after L'Etranger can wait until afterwards."

"Oh...yeah. Right." Max took a step back towards Rachel, who took a half step back. "Are you okay?" he asked, concern creeping into his voice.

"I'm fine." Rachel stood steady, meeting Max's gaze, and after a few seconds he broke away.

"All right them. Time to find the masked creep."

[ - ]

"All clear."

Max looked back towards where Rachel was standing; another carriage cleared of guards. The three that had been guarding the carriage they were currently in were now all on the floor, having been knocked unconscious. Without saying a word, Rachel holstered her gun and checked the delegates were all okay while Max casually and rather carelessly moved the unconscious guards into the rear-most carriage - there was a chance they'd wake up and attempt to re-take the train, and Max has argued about breaking off that carriage as well when they'd cleared the others of guards, but Rachel had steadfastly said no; they shouldn't do any more damage than they needed. The clean-up of the two carriages Max had already broken off would be enough of a hassle.

"This is way too easy," Max commented as he walked back into the carriage, noting that Rachel was already waiting near the front of the carriage.

"I wouldn't say that just yet," Rachel cautioned, turning back to look at Max. "We've not yet encountered L'Etranger, and there is nothing to say that there isn't a large group of guards further up the train. We still need to remain cautious."

"Hey, cut me some slack, will ya? This is one of my first missions; I'd say I'm doing pretty well."

"This isn't a classroom, Max; you can't get a do-over if something goes wrong." Rachel glanced through the glass in the door of the carriage to the next one before turning back and nodding to Max. "The next carriage is empty."

Max opened the door and stepped through to the next carriage, Rachel following suit. The two did a quick sweep around just to make sure no one was hiding in any nooks.

"You're lucky this whole mission wasn't compromised from the start; I dread to think how we would have explained you being on the roof of the Reichstag."

"And if I'd been where I was supposed to be, what would have happened?" Max glanced over at Rachel, trying to see what her reaction was; as usual, neutral. "I would be down here along with you and neither of us would have a clue what was going on, let alone have any chance of getting out of this situation."

He knew he was right, and doubly so when Rachel remained silent. A few seconds passed as they headed towards the next carriage, but without even checking she turned to Max.

"That carriage won't have any guards."

Max raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?"

"Some things you're better off not knowing." Rachel inclined her head towards the door, indicating that Max should head on in front of her.

"If these carriages are going to remain empty, maybe I should go on ahead and look for L'Etranger."

"Good idea."

Max hesitated, looking at Rachel. "What, no objections? No posturing or saying that I'm not to go on my own?"

"Not today."

After a few seconds of confusion Max turned away and headed towards the carriage door, noting Rachel standing where she had been for the past few moments. The door opened and Max stepped through, being careful to step over the coupling and onto the ledge of the next carriage. Max moved to open the door and he looked inside, finding the carriage not quite as empty as Rachel had said.

_Well, all she said was 'no guards',_ he thought to himself as he saw the masked man - L'Etranger - in the middle of the carriage. L'Etranger had looked up when the door opened but made no effort to move; instead he just stood there, watching Max and calculating what his next move would be.

Max took a few seconds to glance behind him; Rachel was still standing in the same place, and he momentarily wondered what she'd think of his decision.

"Hey, bro, make sure Rachel and the delegates are taken care of," Max said quietly. He turned around so that he was facing Rachel head-on, L'Etranger behind his back (which, on reflection was probably not the best idea) and activated turbo mode. He slammed a powered fist down on to the coupling, smashing it and instantly disconnecting the two carriages. Rachel, having sensed what Max was going to do seconds before he did it had started to run up the carriage, but by the time she'd reached the door the two carriages were too far apart for anyone, save perhaps himself, to make the jump safely.

Now unshielded from the wind, it began to whip around, white noise blasting past his ears; still, even with that he heard Rachel calling his name and he winced. He deactivated turbo and turned back around to face L'Etranger.

To his surprise, L'Etranger hadn't moved either; the masked man was simply standing with his arms folded, watching the whole scene unfolding in front of him. As Max faced him once again, L'Etranger chuckled.

"I believe now is the obligatory fight to the finish?" he commented, starting to walk towards Max.

"I'm so glad you know the rules."

Max pulled his gun, getting off a few quick shots in the hope that they'd slow L'Etranger down; however, even though the bullets hit, tearing small chunks off his suit, they did little to nothing in stopping or even slowing him down.

Frustrated, Max threw the gun backwards, vaguely hearing it scutter over the train tracks, and approached L'Etranger. He only took two steps before he was toe-to-toe with him and was able to get off a quick first punch; L'Etranger didn't seem to anticipate the move and the punch hit him in the chest but, like the bullets, it seemed to do nothing.

L'Etranger's mask grew into a grin and the two settled in to hand-to-hand combat. They traded blows, some connecting and some being blocked or missing. The walkway between the rows of seats was just enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder, but in a fight left very little room to manoeuvre unless the participants really wanted to get close.

"Who do you work for?" Max managed to get out after a successful uppercut to L'Etranger's chin; L'Etranger's head snapped back but given how quickly he was able to recover Max suspected that his fist hurt more than L'Etranger's chin.

"Who I work for is none of your concern," L'Etranger said back, kicking out and hitting Max in the stomach, knocking him back a few steps. Winded, Max paused for a few seconds, long enough for L'Etranger to walk up and jab a strong elbow down into Max's back, sending him sprawling onto the floor of the carriage.

Max stayed on the ground for a couple of seconds to regain his breath and also to enable him a quick glance at his bio-link. The display was glowing red, a warning that he was starting to be in the danger zone. He ignored it, took a deep breath, and activated turbo.

Max got back to his feet, a punch connecting - for once - on L'Etranger and sending him staggering back a step. A hand went up to feel where Max's punch had connected, and L'Etranger chuckled again. L'Etranger retook the step, punching Max in the chest yet again and sending him flying into the carriage chairs. Max got back up, gritting out a few words.

"You...can't be that strong."

Max aimed a kick at L'Etranger's knee, the blow glancing off as L'Etranger moved back and retaliating with a punch of his own, sending Max staggering back towards the rear of the carriage.

"Stranger yet...neither can you."

L'Etranger continued to punch and kick, slowly pushing Max back towards the rear of the carriage and towards the rear door. The door automatically opened and the whistling wind caught Max's ears again; before he knew it he was standing on the ledge, precariously balanced and watching the tracks zoom by over his shoulder as L'Etranger closed the gap.

L'Etranger hesitated before Max; why, Max didn't know and didn't care, but it gave him enough time to see L'Etranger pull back a fist, knowing that Max wouldn't be able to block it, and slam it into Max's head, knocking him unconscious and sending him sprawling onto the train tracks below.

[ - ]

"Max? Max! Oh for heaven's sake...if I wasn't already worried you had brain damage I'd slap you. _Max!_ Wake up!"

Groggily, Max came to to notice that Rachel was kneeling beside him, a worried expression on her face. He began to sit up, wincing as his head protested the sudden movement; he absently rubbed it before looking back at Rachel, noticing that her worried expression had been replaced by her default one.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Mr. Steel."

Max shook his head, trying to wake himself up a little more. They were still in the train tunnel underneath Berlin, the gloomy darkness still surrounding them. He had somehow managed to avoid falling on to the live rail (either that or he was experiencing a very strange afterlife) and cautiously shifted around in to a slightly more comfortable position.

"What happened?" Max asked, moving to stand up.

"Well, after you disconnected the train -" Rachel sent a look of disapproval Max's way once she took was back on her feet "- myself, Nez, and Murtaugh, along with other agents who arrived as extra backup, managed to coordinate the arrest of the kidnappers. The delegates are being debriefed by the German authorities, and as soon as INTEC finishes up with the kidnappers the German authorities will be dealing with them as well."

Max rubbed the bridge of his nose. "What about L'Etranger? The last I saw of him he was powering up to knock me out."

"There's been no sign of him; I sent out an advanced party to search the tunnels ahead but I doubt they'll find anything. L'Etranger had commented about a rendezvous point; if he reached that there's no telling where he might be now." Rachel glanced down the tunnel before turning back to look at Max. "I would appreciate knowing what happened before our debriefing, though."

Max gave her a quick run-down - there wasn't much information to give her - and when he got to the point about L'Etranger seeming to have superhuman strength, she frowned. Once Max had finished she radioed in for someone to place border patrols to look for a short train in the Berlin underground system.

"At the very least, if we're unable to locate L'Etranger, we should be able to find the train. It might give us some more information. As for us," she added, turning and walking down the tunnel, "I think we should begin to think about heading home."

Max followed, falling into step behind her and the two walked in silence. It was a good chunk of time - ten minutes perhaps - until they were able to see Nez and Murtaugh further down the tunnel, and a couple of minutes more until they got close enough to talk.

"Hey Rachel," Nez greeting with a smile on his face. "Everything all right?"

"Fine, Jake," Rachel replies, shooting a quick glance at Max. "I'll be staying here for a short while to make sure everything's in order. Murtaugh?" Rachel said, and the red-haired agent looked up. "Could you accompany Max back to the rendezvous point?"

"No problem," Murtaugh said with a grin, and he and Max headed off.

[ - ]

Max managed to settle in to the _Hawk_ and set a course back for Del Oro - he dreaded to think how late it'd be by the time he got back. It wasn't that late in Berlin, but take into account the time difference and the flight time and while he might be looking at getting back at a reasonable-for-Berlin 8AM that was closer to midnight back in Del Oro.

He was just thankful that Berto had had the foresight - or caution - not to put the _Hawk_ back on autopilot after Max intercepted the train. If he had Max would have wasted more time waiting around for the _Gamayun_ to take off with the other agents - that plane wasn't scheduled to arrive back in Del Oro until well after Max in the _Hawk_ was.

The flight back was silent and lonely - Berto, having noted that everything was fine now, mission accomplished, bad guys almost all caught, good guys winning, had slinked off to his bunk in INTEC with orders for Max to put _Hawk_ back on autopilot to return to base once he'd arrived home.

Thanks to a little detour because of bad turbulence, Max arrived back at his beach house (newly rented, just in time for the new school year to start) a little after one in the morning. He practically staggered out of the plane, putting it on autopilot as Berto had said, and stumbled into the house, setting an alarm for six in the morning. That would, hopefully, give him enough time for a quick shower and brush teeth before he needed to head out to meet Laura at the airport.

[ - ]

Even if the door had been positioned to catch the full sun it would have still had an imposing impression on anyone who passed by it; as it was, it was nestled in a part of the building which only got dim light at best it added in rather creepy overtone.

Despite the fact that the building was above-ground, windows were only allowed on the outermost and least important areas - that left a large portion of the base which was almost always in some kind of dim or gloomy light. Because of the fact that there were very few windows, but a lot of people working around the clock, the lights brightened and dimmed according to the time of day, making a gloomy place even gloomier. At three in the morning the lights were as dim as they would ever get, casting long shadows over everything in the hallway and all but ensuring that only necessary trips from one room to another occurred.

Normally the large, imposing doors right in the middle of the length of the corridor were enough of a deterrent to anyone knocking on the door at any time of the day, barring an emergency. However, the person walking down the corridor and heading for the door had no such qualms. His face was set in a permanent frown, a scar trailing up from under his chin, along his jaw line and extending up past the ears. It hit his hairline, although his blond hair was starting to recede. He walked with a confident gait, glaring at any people lower down on the employment chain as he passed by them; they, having known him for quite a time and aware of his predilections, kept their heads down and continued walking along.

The blond man reached the room, shifting the documents he was carrying from his right hand to his left hand and quickly knocked on the door. A few seconds later he received an "enter" from the occupant of the room and he opened the door and stepped through.

The room was very different from the outside corridors: those were steel and gleaming while the room was largely dark brown wood and very...cosy. Little matters were discussed there that were actually of a cosy nature, but for the occupant of the room it was more the comfort to him than anything his employees might take away from its appearance. The occupant of the room was in his leather chair, as expected, turned away from the door.

The blond man moved into the room, stopping in the centre and bowing, ever so slightly. Protocol dictated it, but as the other person couldn't see he did it as quickly as possible. He hated all this posturing and chain of command but - for the time being, at least - it was necessary.

"Sir, L'Etranger has failed," the blond man said, talking to the back of the chair. He grimaced to himself when the occupant failed to turn around and acknowledge him. "The German authorities have recovered all of the hostages and the guards. They are debriefing them to find out what happened."

For a good couple of minutes there was no response from the other person in the room; the low fire which seemed to be always lit crackled away, that being the only sound in the room. The blond man resisted the urge to just storm out of the room and ignore this whole meeting, but again protocol dictated he stay until he was officially dismissed.

"My fault for handing important work to freelancers," the occupant of the room finally said. "Make sure he is stricken from the books and inform everyone that no one is to contact him again. If he does happen to contact one of us independently...well, we all know what to do."

"Yes, sir."

"Am I to assume that INTEC is behind this?"

"They were." The blond man shifted uncomfortably. "We did find out who within INTEC was responsible: two agents, one named Rachel Leeds, codename Castle; the other Max Steel, codename Phaelon."

The blond man stepped forwards and put the folders he had been holding on to the desk, quickly backing away again once he had done that. He waited for the occupant of the room to turn around, but he never did; instead, he continued facing away, looking into the fire.

"INTEC is becoming quite the thorn in our side. Perhaps it is time to do something about it."

"Yes, Mister Dread." The blond man took that as his cue and began to head out of the room.

"Psycho," Dread said, causing Psycho to pause right where he was. "I want the best of our agents on this case. We cannot afford for anyone outside of this organisation to find out, let alone what might happen if we fail."

"Yes, sir." With that, Psycho left the room, leaving Dread alone in silence once more. He lingered in his chair a little longer, finishing off the single malt whiskey he had been sipping. Once finished, he stood up and walked over to the desk, sliding over the two folders to his side of the desk. He flicked open the one on top, seeing a picture of a blond woman along with various information typed out hurriedly - all information, no attempts at anything beyond the basic formatting.

The information included was brief and a lot of what was written had question marks or parentheses containing the words 'possible' or 'maybe' next to them - still, for the time being it was all that was needed.

Dread put down the file on Rachel and picked up the second one, his eyebrows raising a quarter of an inch in surprise as he looked at the picture on the page. The information contained was all talking about someone called Max Steel, and yet...Dread felt like he was back in nineteen seventy-five, looking at the same person's information.

Dread read over the information given - like with Rachel's folder a lot was speculation or conjecture, but some handwritten notes drew his attention. Someone, likely the person who had checked the information, had circled key bits of information and scribbled notes on to the paper.

The main item that they highlighted was the lack of information on Max Steel before his hiring at INTEC in June. One rather more interesting point of information was the fact that Josh McGrath had been employed at N-Tek around the same time. The ages of both Max and Josh added up, and general reports stated that they looked to be of a similar height and build.

Dread paused; the information he was looking at was too contrived, too coincidental to be an accident. Jim's codename had been Steel, and for someone to come along who had that as their surname but also bore more than a coincidental appearance to him? Not to mention the ages correlating rather well - each of those things on their own could be passed off as coincidence, but all three items? If it were true...

Dread chuckled to himself. "Oh, Jim, it looks like you might have left a legacy is more than one way." He closed the folder and put it down, making a mental note to have someone dig a lot deeper into this potential mystery.

28/01/2013


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Just a quick note, I want to say thank you to everyone who's been reading, following, reviewing, and adding this story to their favourites. It puts a smile on my face when I get an email or check the stats :)

Chapter Seven:

Josh cursed to himself as he drove through the streets of Del Oro, heading from his house to the airport. He quickly afforded himself a glance over at the clock on his dashboard and cursed again - it was coming up to nine o'clock, not too late in the grand scheme of things but it did, however, mean that Laura's flight had gotten in two hours ago and she'd likely have been sitting around in the terminal for that time.

Half an hour later he was finally at the airport and pulling in to a car parking space. He got out, slammed the door behind him and hastily locked it. He was thankful that even though he'd woken up late he had made sure to check what gate her flight was scheduled to come in at (the fact that it had already landed when he checked had been another help). He dashed over to the elevators for the terminal, quickly finding his way to the arrivals section, keeping an eye out for Laura.

It was fairly easy to find her - he doubted there were very many fed-up-looking Chinese women with a bundle of bags piled up next to them. She didn't look much difference from three months ago; slightly longer hair and a bit of a tan. Josh slowed his pace, trying not to look too stressed and hurried as he approached her (although considering how late he was, looking stressed and hurried could help his case).

Laura was looking in the opposite direction to where Josh was walking from, staring into the middle distance, taking very little notice of anything going on around her. As Josh got closer, however, she turned and glanced at him, a small but weary smile appearing on her face when she recognised him. She stood up and moved beside her bags, speaking when Josh was within earshot.

"I thought you were going to meet me at seven?" Laura said, trying to joke but Josh could see the disappointment in her eyes.

"Sorry Laura, I overslept and my alarm didn't go off and I know I'm late..."

Laura pressed a finger to Josh's lips; he fell silent and she quickly replaced her finger with her lips, giving him a quick kiss. "Well, you're here now. I was going to call a cab if you were any later..."

"I know, I'm sorry."

Laura didn't reply to Josh's second apology; instead she just picked up the smaller bags from the pile and placed them on her seat, handing over the largest of the bags to Josh. He took it, saying nothing, and after Laura picked up the other bags they began to head towards the exit of the terminal.

"So what's been going on in your life?" Laura asked as they walked through the terminal. "Did you get my letters?"

"I did. Sorry I wasn't able to respond to any of them though."

Laura smiled faintly. "The problem of being on a ship, no fixed address."

"Indeed."

The two made their way down to the parking lot, Josh popping the trunk and placing all of Laura's bags inside before getting in the driver's seat; Laura, in the meantime, had gotten into the passenger's seat. Josh flicked the ignition, starting the car, and pulled out, beginning their journey back through Del Oro.

[ - ]

"...it was very fascinating, very...quiet." Laura paused. "You don't seem to appreciate how large the world is until you're on a boat traversing the Pacific ocean. I was away for three months and we only covered a small part of the ocean."

"I can imagine."

"What's been going on with you? Have you seen Pete recently?"

"Oh..." Josh hesitated. "Well, I did at the beginning of vacation, but..."

"'But'? I'm not liking the sound of this."

Josh sighed, using the few seconds of concentration he needed to get onto the highway as a buffer. "Dad said that it was about time I started getting to know N-Tek better, becoming more involved. I...now have a job there. Full time. Well, as full time as I can be while still being a student."

Laura frowned, looking at Josh. "Didn't your father say he'd offer you an internship next summer? What made him change his mind?"

"Honestly, Laura, your guess is as good as mine."

Laura was silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Of course, talking about internships, I should probably start planning for my next research trip."

"Why? You've only just got back from one. Is demand really that great for it?"

"Well, yes. I've been offered an opportunity to do a year-long research trip, the same organisation that's involved in the one I've just done. It starts next August - I haven't put my name down yet, but I am seriously considering it. These kind of trips aren't made available very often - that was why I went on this summer one."

"Yeah, but this one's going to be a whole year." Josh glanced over at Laura before turning his attention back to the road. "Isn't that going to make things a little difficult?"

"It shouldn't do. It'll be all okay. I've got the schedule in my bag - there's regular land stops planned and there's also going to be a robust satellite phone system available. I should be able to call quite often."

_That wasn't quite what I was meaning..._ Josh thought. "I'm not convinced."

"Josh. This is an opportunity for _me_. If I don't go on this I don't know when the next opportunity will be."

"Sounds like you've already made up your mind."

"I...maybe I have." Laura slumped in her seat. "I just didn't want you to be dead-set against this."

"I'm not dead-set against it, I'm just not -"

"Sure it's the right thing?"

Josh didn't answer her. Laura turned up the music on the radio a bit and looked out of the passenger-side window, watching as the landscape turned from urban to more suburban, roads and buildings giving way to mountains. Most of the area was still largely undeveloped, but in small pockets of space were clusters of houses: close enough to be thought of as part of a community, but far apart enough that each had privacy.

Josh pulled up alongside one of the houses and stepped out of the car, Laura following him a few seconds later. The two of them pulled out Laura's bags from the car and Josh helped her carry them to the front door, neither of them speaking yet.

When the last bag was added to the pile, Josh's bio-link began to beep. He winced, grabbing his phone from his jeans pocket and looking at it quickly before returning it to its place; when he looked back up he saw Laura looking at him quizzically.

"What was that?"

"My dad. He wants me back at N-Tek for some work."

"Oh." Laura's face fell. "I guess you're not going to have too much time before school starts again."

"Probably not," Josh said in what he hoped was an apologetic tone. He lent down and gave her a quick kiss. "I'll call you later."

"Bye," Laura said quietly. Josh headed off back to his car while Laura opened the front door and deposited her bags inside before stepping through herself; she didn't even turn around to see Josh leave.

[ - ]

"What is it?" Josh asked through his bio-link once he was far away enough from Laura's house.

"Mairot wants you back at INTEC for a quick debriefing. You forgot to come in for one earlier. It's going to be held in..." Berto paused and Josh could hear a faint rustling of paper. "Third floor, room A17, south corridor."

Josh noted that he didn't exactly forget, just that it hadn't been a priority in his mind. Never the less he still made his way to INTEC, driving through the underground tunnel and parking in his assigned spot. He locked the car and made his way over to the elevator, stepping inside and pressing a button for the lower-third floor.

Once the elevator began to descend he changed to Max; he'd only been Josh for ten hours but it had already started to feel a little strange looking in a mirror or catching a glimpse of his reflection in glass and seeing himself with blond hair and brown eyes. He'd almost gotten used to his 'Max' persona as his real one, and catching a glimpse of himself, brown hair and blue eyes, in the reflection of the elevator was a reassuring one.

Once the elevator reached the lower-third floor he stepped out and began to quickly make his way towards the assigned room. The south corridor on the third floor was one Max had yet to really see, and when he got there he could see why: it was a tiny avenue with a small scattering of doors and, when Max headed in to room A17, miniscule meeting rooms.

When Max opened the door all the occupants of the room looked up at him - no surprise that Mairot and Rachel were there, but a slightly out of breath Berto was unusual. Max shot Berto a questioning look and he simply replied with a shrug.

"Close the door, Max," Mairot said before the two of them could begin to discuss things in any detail. Berto turned his attention back to Mairot and Max obligingly closed the door. "Take a seat."

Max did so, still confused as to why all three of them needed to be there. He focused his attention straight at Mairot.

"This will only be a quick meeting. We have not encountered L'Etranger before and I want to get some information to build up a dossier on him."

Mairot turned to Max, clearly expecting him to go first; Max was slightly taken aback at that but complied, giving a quick rundown of what he'd seen from L'Etranger. As he spoke, Mairot jotted down some quick notes that, even with his enhanced vision, Max couldn't quite make out what was being written. On occasions Mairot turned to Berto and asked him to extrapolate or if he had anything to add to what Max was saying.

"Rachel?" Mairot questioned, drawing the attention of everyone in the room to her. She hesitated a bit before stating her version of events. She kept her eyes focused on Mairot and hands still in her lap as she spoke, retelling events as if it were a movie she had seen. As before, Mairot jotted down notes and, when Rachel had finished, he dismissed them all.

[ - ]

"Is this everything?" Josh asked, and Laura turned to look at him. By his feet where the last few boxes of her things, looking almost too bright and colourful in the sparse white dorm room she'd be living in for the next year.

"It looks like it," Laura said before turning back to look at the walls. "Do you think the posters would look better there -" she pointed over to her left "- or there?" she pointed over to her right. When she glanced back at Josh, however, he had a nonplussed expression on his face. "Over to the left it is," she said, grabbing a poster and putting it on the floor below where she'd later hang it up.

"So," she continued a few minutes later after most of her stuff had been unpacked. "Did you and Pete get your old room back?"

"No, we didn't."

"Oh, that's too bad. That place was pretty decent."

"Yeah."

The two fell back into silence as Laura continued moving her items around, setting them in places only she had reason for: books here, laptop there, a couple more posters quickly placed below the section of the wall they'd be taped to. She quickly pinned up a couple of items to the bulletin board and slowly but surely the room began to look like it was hers.

"Where are you staying? I don't think you've made a trip to campus at all this week - which dorm are you staying in? Don't tell me you're leaving this all up to Pete; last year you were this close to sleeping on the benches in the rec centre."

"Don't remind me. I, um, well, I'm actually renting a beach house this year."

"You're _kidding._ How are you able to afford that?"

Josh winced, trying not to look too guilty. "I wanted a bit more independence from the dorms, you know?"

Laura frowned, not quite believing him. "Does Pete know?"

"Of course." Another lie. "He's fine with it, trust me. I'm sure he's got a long list of people he can room with; and if not, he's a pretty easy going guy."

"I suppose." For the third time the two descended into silence, Laura finalising her plans and ideas for where her things should go. After a few moments, however, Josh's pager goes off and he grabs it and looks at it, suppressing a sigh.

"Work. Again." He tried to throw a sympathetic smile to Laura but suspected it came out looking more like a grimace. He clipped his pager back onto his belt and grabbed his jacket, quickly throwing it on. "I'm sorry but I've got to head off; my dad needs my help. Urgently, apparently."

"All right," Laura said with a small smile. "Just remember to tell your dad that classes start soon - he can't pull you out of them randomly."

Josh gave her a quick smile. "I know. I'll call you later," he added before heading out of the dorm room, leaving Laura to finish up decorating it.

[ - ]

Max quickly glanced over his shoulder as a couple more agents filled in before turning his attention back to the front of the room. He, and all the other agents, were squeezed into one of the smaller meeting rooms, filling the place to capacity. Among the agents there were Diamon, Genowitz, Grange, and Antebi, and one of the late agents arriving Max had identified as Kat Ryan.

The two late agents quickly found empty space to stand in and Mairot, after clearing his throat, began to talk.

"The General-Secretary of the United Nations, Marie Keita, will be visiting Del Oro for a goodwill meeting." Mairot pressed a button on the computer next to him, bringing up an image of the general-secretary for everyone in the room to see. "She was also one of the delegates kidnapped by L'Etranger earlier this month - because of this she has requested extra security for her visit here, along with her usual security.

"She will be here for two days; Diamon and Ryan, you have been assigned guard patrol when she arrives tomorrow, with Steel and Genowitz taking over the next day before she is due to depart. Information has already been compiled on Marie Keita and her security entourage and will be given to you later today."

Max made to move but, when he noticed that none of the other agents were also doing so, he settled back into his seat.

"I am keeping you four here because this other mission may be of importance later," Mairot said with a cautious look over at Max. "Grange, Antebi, Skarzgaard, D-INT has picked up reports of a new, potentially fatal virus in Nairobi." As before, he pressed a button on the computer, switching the image from one of Marie Keita to one of a hospital, all the patients in hospital beds sectioned off from each other. A couple of people walking around were in hazmat suits, very similar to the ones Max had seen shortly after his accident.

"Currently we have very few details on this virus other than it is exceedingly fatal and may be highly contagious. As you can see, the staff at the hospital are taking no chances. I want you to investigate this matter alongside local security forces and liaise with medical staff. A sample of the virus should be isolated by the time you arrive; I want you to bring it back to UBRC for analysis and, if possible, synthesis a cure or vaccine for it. Understood?"

There was a chorus of "yes sir" from the amassed agents and, satisfied, Mairot dismissed all of them. Max held back and waited for the majority of agents to leave before he did so, but noticed that Kat was still standing in the far corner of the room, arms crossed and an annoyed expression on her face. Max hesitated for a few seconds before deciding that whatever was going on he really didn't want to know, and left the room.

He was halfway down the hallway when he heard Kat instigate a conversation between herself and Mairot - far enough away that anyone else would only hear mumbled voices, but he could hear perfectly well.

"With all due respect, _sir_, I'm not sure Diamon is capable of this mission."

"Ms. Ryan, you know as well as I do that this is a simple observation mission, nothing more. If Diamon was unqualified I would not have assigned him to this."

"If this mission is so simple then I might question as to why I'm being forced on to a babysitting job."

"Ensuring Marie Keita is kept safe is not a babysitting job."

"You know that it is, but I wasn't referring to her. Scott Diamon may have been an agent for as long as I have, but he is still unfocused and sloppy."

"As I am aware. According to you every agent has their own faults except for yourself. This matter is not open for discussion, Ms. Ryan; you will either be on watch for Maire Keita tomorrow or you will not be a part of this mission at all. Understood?"

"Sir."

[ - ]

For once, the gym at INTEC was packed with people, and to Max's surprise the majority of them were actually using the facilities instead of meandering around and chatting to friends or work colleagues. He'd had to wait some minutes before the room cleared out a little and he'd been able to find a free exercise machine in the corner of the room. He could have simply headed out of INTEC and back to campus for the rec centre there, but if INTEC had the facilities already offered there was little point in him dragging himself halfway across Del Oro when he could simply wait for a machine to become free.

He'd been there and working out for about fifteen minutes, hearing various people coming and going, when he heard someone walking towards him - not a surprise as the machines next to him were empty and had been so for a good portion of the time he had been there - but when they didn't even pause next to the machines Max paused and looked up to see Kat standing there.

She had her hands on her hips, a smirk on her face, and looked way too happy to have been the same person who had had a 'disagreement' with Mairot after the mission briefing. Despite knowing that he probably shouldn't aggravate her, Max paused and sat up, matching her gaze with his.

"So, you're INTEC's wonder-boy. Been working you so hard I thought I'd never get the chance to chat to ya."

"And we're chatting. What now?" Max said, perhaps a little harsher than he'd intended, waiting for Kat to saunter off and do whatever it was she did (terrorise other agents, perhaps). However, she just kept in the same place, gaze focused on Max, who was becoming more aware that other people in the room were no longer exercising or working out and were instead staring at them.

After a moment Kat moved, but only to sit on the exercise machine next to Max. She continued to keep quiet, something which was beginning to aggravate Max more and more.

"All right, I'll bite. What do you want?"

After he'd spoken, Kat's grin widened. "Well, Steel, I was thinking we might have a little competition. You're meant to be the strongest agent around, right? How about I see how good you actually are, and see how well Rachel's training has paid off."

Max was slightly confused. "All right. Why?"

Kat shrugged. "I'm a curious person."

Max bit back a grin and also the pun that had formed in his mind. He highly doubted she would take kindly to what he was thinking, especially not when she was already likely to be in a bad mood.

"When?"

"Thirty minutes. Sparring room. I'll be waiting." Kat stood up and began to head towards the doors of the gym. "Oh," she added, pausing and turning around to look at Max. "A no-show is will be considered a forfeit."

"Gotcha," Max replied, grinning.

[ - ]

Almost thirty minutes later Max turned up in the sparring room. He had guessed that as Kat had issues her 'challenge' in front of a lot of people in the gym that some of them would find time in their schedule to come and watch, but he wasn't expecting so many people to be there. He moved a little warily, aware of everyone's eyes being on him - he glanced around, trying to see just how many people were there and tried not to be too concerned by the fact that some of the people in the room he was sure he'd never seen before.

A good number of them were whispering among themselves, and Max heard a few of them making bets among themselves, already swapping some small notes between them. He pushed that out of his mind as he walked to the centre of the room; Kat was already there, running through a few warm-up exercises and a wide grin on her face.

Kat hadn't noticed he had arrived, possibly assuming he was yet another spectator. She was chatting away to someone who, upon seeing Max approaching, nudge Kat in the ribs and nodded their head towards him. Kat finished the conversation mid-sentence, turning to look at Max.

"So you did turn up. Huh. Park, looks like you've lost that bet already," she said into the audience, Max hearing someone grumble in reply. "So, Steel, let's see what you've got."

Max took a quick, calming breath before stepping forwards into the sparring zone, simply marked by a thin, blue, circular mat. Kat struck a fighting stance, Max mirroring her nervously. Still with a smirk on her face, Kat began to circle around, Max following her although slightly distracted by the other people in the room. They'd now started full-out betting, with one person - Melody Cherabi - seeming to be in charge of all the bets as everyone was speaking to her.

"Still time to back out, Steel," Kat said. "I'm sure hardly anyone here would hold it against you."

"You're being generous?"

"Never said I'd be one to not hold it against you."

A few more hurried bets hit Max's ears and he was slightly relieved to hear that some people were betting on him winning. However, one person's comment made him think again:

"Ryan's going to wipe the floor with him."

However, Max listening in to the comments and bets was not a good idea: he'd distracted himself from the fight by listening to them, and Kat used that to her advantage. Max's attention only snapped back to the fight when he saw Kat closing in for an attack, too late to dodge completely. Instead, he brought an arm up to do a partial block, turning Kat's punch from one which would have hit his chest with immense force into a still-painful glancing blow. He sidestepped, reducing the impact of the punch even more, but Kat had been anticipating such a move; she hooked one of her legs behind his, wrenching his footing out from underneath him and sending him crashing to the mat.

"LEss than a minute; still think he's going to beat Ryan?"

Whoever the person who was asked that question stayed silent as Max got back on to his feet, striking a fighting stance and beginning to circle around again. This time, he managed to dodge and attack from Kat before retaliating with a punch of his own. Kat stepped back, Max's punch going wide. She grabbed Max's outstretched arm and used his momentum to send him crashing onto the mat again.

Kat bit down a smirk as Max glared up at her. Feeling generous, she offered him a hand back up which he took...using it to twist her arm around, pinning her back to his chest. BEfore she could get loose he'd hooked a leg around hers, knocking her off balance and sending her tumbling to the mat.

"Cute," Kat remarked, wiping a hand across her mouth. She took a few seconds before standing up. "Rachel taught you a few tricks."

Max gracefully waited until she was back on her feet before resuming the fight which, in hindsight, was probably not the best of ideas. Kat got back on to her feet, regained her balance, and began to attack. A quick punch here and a kick there, none of them connecting too solidly but all of them forcing Max on the defensive, spending more time blocking, dodging, and evading her attacks than he did returning attacks of his own.

Before too long Max was at the edge of the sparring area, and a quick glance behind him showed that the gathered crowds had moved away, leaving him plenty of space in case he was knocked out of the 'arena'. Kat aimed a high kick at Max, completely missing him when he ducked down to avoid the attack. A frustrated look appeared on her face and, just when Max was standing back up again, she followed through with a second kick.

The second kick connected solidly with his chest, sending him sprawling out of the sparring zone, landing on the hard wooden floor on his back. He stayed there for a few seconds, momentarily dazed and mentally cursing himself before starting to get back up.

Kat, the look on her face replaced with a satisfied smirk, walked over and straddled him, placing a hand on his chest, pushing him back down onto the floor. She leaned in close, the smirk on her face growing wider.

"Nanoprobes and super-strength?" Kat snorted. "I think I've just proven you can't beat good old-fashioned hard work."

She stood back up, stepping over Max and headed over to the exit. "All right, fight's over. Collect your money and go."

[ - ]

"Kimber, stay in sight." Kat mentally rolled her eyes as she scanned the crowds of people. A plane had recently landed and, judging from the mass of people heading from the arrivals area to the exit, the passengers who had been on that plane had made their way through security and baggage pick-up.

"I'm not exactly wandering halfway across the planet; I'm still here and I can still see you."

"I can't," Kat lied. She glanced back over to where Scott Diamon had been a few minutes ago to see that he was still there. Being shorter than average he had a tendency to disappear into the crowd, but the black and dark green of INTEC's uniform was easily spotted in amongst all of the light and brightly coloured clothing nearly everyone else was wearing.

Kat heard Diamon sigh over the comms link but he said nothing and, as Kat continued to watch, he stayed in the same place she had last spotted him. After a bit the crowds thinned out, leaving the two agents a little bit of breathing time. Despite Del Oro being a reasonably busy airport, the large number of terminals meant the passengers coming through each one were reasonably spaced out.

After a few more groups of people (Kat wasn't really keeping count, and she suspected Diamon wasn't, either) the terminal went quiet. Most of the people who had been waiting around had left and only a small trickle of new people had entered the terminal. A quick check showed that no new commercial flights were due in to the terminal for the next thirty minutes, and Kat had good suspicion as to why.

The first indication Kat had was a number of people doing double-takes or whispering to people they were waiting with; not everyone would know Marie Keita by sight, but the fact that she was flanked by guards was something that was very likely to draw someone's attention - good or bad.

As if on cue, Marie Keita and her entourage of guards appeared in Kat's field of vision; she pushed off against the wall she had been leaning against, grabbed something from her coat pocket, and strode across the room to Marie, noting the guards scanning her every movement. As she got close she flicked out her INTEC badge to the guards, something she had been holding in her hand, and they nodded to her.

"Marie Keita? I'm Kat Ryan." Kat said by way of introduction, not even bothering to offer a hand to shake. She glanced behind her to try and see where Diamon had gone, but he had evidently disappeared somewhere.

"ID?" One of the guards said. Kat quickly drew out her INTEC pass card and held it up for about five seconds before putting it back in her jeans pocket. A few moments after that, Diamon showed up and went through the same procedures - the guards, satisfied that the two agents were who they said they were, relaxed a little.

"Now that we're all acquainted, it's best to get out of here," Kat commented without even bothering with basic formalities. "An airport is a bit too high risk to stand around 's go."

Without waiting for a response Kat turned on her heel and began to walk out of the airport, a quick glance over her shoulder to ensure that everyone else was cooperating.

[ - ]

_The perils of being a secret agent,_ Josh thought to himself as he skidded into class barely two minutes before it was due to start. He earned himself a look from the lecturer, she not comfortable with students running in the lecture halls, but said nothing.

Josh slipped into a free seat next to Alex on the outermost section of the ring of seats. He quickly grabbed a notebook and pen from his bag, looking up to see what had been written on the whiteboard for today's class.

Laplace transforms.

Josh stifled a groan as the lecturer began the class, instead doing his best to pay attention and take notes; however, after about five minutes his notes descended into random doodles and even looking over at Alex's notes were similarly unhelpful as he had none whatsoever.

"Wonder if I can get Berto to help me out," Josh mused to himself, trying to turn his attention back to the lecture.

[ - ]

If Kat had known just how mind-numbingly boring the whole 'be one of Keita's bodyguards temporarily' would have been, she would have vetoed Mairot's idea outright. As it was, she was now waiting alongside the Del Oro Memorial Bridge for her to finish up...whatever it was she was doing. To Kat it all looked like a nice fun weekend getaway and was finding it a bit difficult to justify just why she was there - so far Keita and her entourage had been on a quick tour of the main sections of Del Oro, outlining the main points of interest before stopping off to see the promenade and pier.

That stop-over was their last one before they were scheduled to head back to INTEC where Keita and Smith would have a quick chat before heading out for lunch. To Kat, that was the only good part of the day - spend some time in a nice restaurant with nice food and order whatever she wanted because it was all going to be on the boss' credit card. After that, they had been informed, Maire would be heading back to her hotel afterwards and so Kat and Diamon's presence would no longer be needed.

That was something Kat was majorly looking forward to - she had been nothing but a glorified babysitter for the past couple of hours, doing nothing that a couple more guards couldn't accomplish. Diamon, however, was enjoying his time away from the INTEC building and had been building up quite a rapport with Keita; indeed, even as Kat glanced their way she could see the two of them deep in conversation, a smile on both of their faces while the guards stood lookout. She took a quick glance at her watch to note the time and see just how long she'd been standing there for.

"Glorified babysitter," Kat muttered darkly to herself as she watched Diamon laugh at something Keita had said. She closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them again, hoping that possibly-maybe something would have happened in those few seconds which necessitated Kat doing something other than observing from a distance.

Nope.

Kat sighed in frustration, stuffing her hands into her jacket pocket. Would they really notice if she left? Probably not, but she didn't want to risk it, not even for the option to get away from this brain-numbing situation.

"'Cuse me, you got the time?" someone said next to Kat, the gravelly voice and strong waft of stench, alcohol, and decay hitting the respective senses at near-enough the same time. She looked to her left to see a grizzled-unhealthy looking man, clothing disheveled, in need of a wash and with multiple small holes. He was about a head shorter than her, pulling a full shopping trolley along behind him filled with items Kat was sure she didn't want to know about.

"Ten past eleven," Kat snapped as she returned her gaze to Keita and Diamon, not even bothering to glance at her watch. She didn't bother glancing over again at the homeless person to see his reaction, instead keeping her eyes on the person she was meant to be guarding. Diamon and Keita had moved a few feet down the pier, Diamon probably explaining something of interest or a little titbit of history that Keita likely already knew anyway.

"'Oo's she?" the homeless man asked, yanking on Kat's jacket sleeve, and Kat looked back at him, annoyed, to see that he was watching Keita and Diamon as well; evidently having decided that whatever Kat was looking at was of great importance. Kat gritted her teeth, turning her attention back to the pier, and was rewarded by the homeless man tugging on her sleeve yet again.

"I said, 'oo's she?"

Kat exhaled sharply before turning to the man. "That is Marie Keita, General-Secretary of the UN." She pulled her sleeve out from the man's grip, making a mental note to dump it in her laundry pile as soon as she got home, and walked off.

The sound of squeaky wheels followed her, and it took all of her strength not to deck him there and then.

"Listen," she said, wheeling around on the homeless man and leaning in to his personal space as closely as she dared. "I am on a job here; I am being paid to be a babysitter to Keita. I am _not_ being paid to look after you and answer your questions, unless you count collecting the various flies and ticks you have on you from being in close proximity. Now, here's some money." She pulled a ten-dollar bill from her jacket pocket. "Take this and go bribe someone to let you use their shower."

Kat turned her attention back to the pier, scanning the people to find Keita. Thankfully, she heard the sound of squeaky wheels again, this time growing a little distant, and was glad that the homeless man was heading off. That gave her one less issue to deal with.

She glanced back to her left, seeing that the homeless man hadn't gone too far, just far enough away to be out of Kat's reach. She turned back to look at the pier, taking a couple of steps forward and searching up and down the promenade. No luck - neither Keita nor Diamon were anywhere near. Swallowing her pride, she turned back to the homeless man.

"Listen, the two people I was watching? Did you -" Kat managed to say before her world went black.

[ - ]

Josh received some rather vicious glares from the people near him in the lecture hall, as well as his lecturer, as his bio-link began beeping, and he heard one whispered comment about turning phones off in lectures. He almost made a peevish comment about what was really making that sound, but decided against it (if anything, it would lead to a whole mess of questions) and instead started packing his things into his bag.

Professor Guerard kept an eye on Josh as the latter packed up his items and dashed out of the room; Josh offered no comment on what he was doing or where he was going, leaving that until after he got back.

Once out of the building Josh took a quick jog away from the buildings and on to some of the grassy patches dotted around the campus. Once a good distance away from any buildings and any people - easy to do as it was too early for anyone to be heading in for the next class, but realistically too late for people to be wandering in for the current classes - Josh pressed a button on his bio-link to open up communications.

"You do know I was in the middle of class, right?" Josh said, annoyed at the interruption. "I don't get on well with Professor Guerard in general, and me running out of his class without notice doesn't help with that."

"Seeing as I can see and hear what you do, you don't need to narrate your life for me."

"I think you need to spend a little less time with Kat. Sarcasm does not suit you."

"Sorry, _hermano_, but I wouldn't have contacted you if it wasn't urgent. Jefferson Smith has just had a suspected heart attack and they've taken him to Saint Jude's hospital. We can't confirm anything yet but it does look -"

Berto didn't even finish what he was saying before the screen in front of him turned black. Berto glanced over at some of the smaller screens, seeing various readouts and information on vitals which indicated that everything was fine. Berto leaned back in his chair and muttered some words of Spanish in annoyance.

Behind him, the door opened, making him jump a little. Berto looked over his shoulder to see one of the scientists (he was always forgetting their names) heading into the room, slim folder in hand.

"Lab results you ordered," he said gruffly, holding the folder in the air. Berto nodded towards the console, watching as the other scientist placed them where he'd indicated. Job done, the other scientist walked away; Berto glanced at the folder, trying to remember just what results he had ordered, but a twinge in his neck caught his attention. Berto raised a hand up to soothe the area, making a mental note to see if he could get a slightly more comfortable chair in the near future.

[ - ]

Josh skidded to a halt outside Saint Jude's hospital, as close to the front entrance as he could conceivably get without blocking ambulances or risking a ticket - given the situation, however, he could barely care if he did get a ticket for parking. He barely gave himself time to lock the car before he dashed into the front office, quickly looking around to find some kind of help and spotted the front reception.

"Can I help you?" the woman at the desk asked, trying not to look at Josh too oddly. Josh realised that his quick dash in had drawn quite a few stares, and not just from visitors.

"I'm looking for Jefferson Smith - he can't have been brought in too long ago, suspected heart attack. Can you tell me what room he's in?"

"I'm sorry, he's undergoing an ECG currently."

"Well, where's he going to be after that?"

The woman looked at him sadly. "I'm afraid he's going to be in the cardiac unit, only family will be allowed to visit him."

"I'm his _son._"

Josh found himself on the receiving end of a very sceptical look; he bit back a groan of frustration and instead tried the diplomatic route. "Josh McGrath, _adopted_ son of Jefferson Smith. If you need me to prove it I will, I just don't have anything with -"

The woman waved him off in irritation; Josh hadn't realised it but as he spoke he was leaning closer and closer to the woman, the clear plastic window being the only thing separating the two of them.

"The cardiac unit is on the fifth floor, to the left of the elevators. You can't miss it."

Josh practically sprinted off, throwing a "thanks" over his shoulder. He saw the stairs first, heading for them and hitting them two at a time as he dashed up; after the first half-flight he absently wondered if taking the lift would have been a more sensible, if possibly slower option.

He reached the fifth floor, slamming through the door and taking the janitor, who had been casually cleaning the floor, by surprise.

"Uh, sorry," Josh said, earning an eye-roll from the janitor before he continued on with his work. Oddly, Josh noted, despite having taken five flights of stairs at a run he was nowhere near being out of breath. "Do you know where the cardiac unit it?"

Without looking up, the janitor simply pointed down the hallways behind him, the ones to Josh's right. As before, Josh quickly thanked him and took off running, earning yet another mystified look from a member of staff at the hospital.

The cardiac unit was clearly signposted (although not from the stairs) and there were also multiple warning signs informing everyone to turn their cell phones off. Josh complied, slipping his phone back in his pocket before he leaned against a nearby window, waiting at the entrance to the ward and taking a quick glance at his watch to note the time. After what seemed like forever, but was more like every few seconds, Josh looked down the hallway to see if anyone was approaching - each time there was no one there, and he resumed his position staring at the opposite wall only to start the whole process up again.

After some period of time, Josh heard the faint sounds of wheels against linoleum and looked up the hallway back towards where he'd come from; the sound grew louder and after a short time a couple of people turned the corner, guiding a gurney down the corridor, Jefferson Smith lying in the device.

"Dad..." Josh whispered to himself, pushing himself away from his position leaning against the window and quickly walked up towards the gurney. "What happened? Is he going to be all right? What's going to happen?"

The woman nodded at her colleague before breaking off from the gurney; he continued down the corridor and into the cardiac unit while the woman stayed behind.

"He's going to be fine. the ECG showed only minor ischemic effects. We'll be keeping him overnight for observation, just in case."

"Minor effects is good, right?"

"It is. All being well, we expect him to be able to go home tomorrow. For now, he'll be unconscious for a bit - you can stay with him if you'll like."

"Thanks."

The woman walked into the cardiac unit, leaving Josh standing outside. He stayed there for a bit, trying to process everything that had gone on. He struggled to think back to his father's last check-up - he couldn't remember anything Jefferson had said to him, and as he mulled on it suspected that nothing good would come of remembering something that occurred a year or so ago.

The two staff members walked out of the cardiac unit, the woman nodding at Josh slightly, him responding with a thin smile. Josh waited a bit longer, trying to compose himself, but just as he was about to head into the cardiac unit his pager went off.

Josh resisted the temptation to hurl the device out of the nearest window and instead looked at it, frowning when he saw the message on the screen.

_RPTNTASAP._

[ - ]

Max hit the fourth floor of INTEC, getting out of the lift and glancing around, trying to see what might have gone on. A few other agents were milling around but none seemed to be at all hurried; not wanting to have people questioning why he was there on a supposed school day he breezed past them, spotting a familiar blonde as he headed towards the meeting rooms.

"Ah, Max, I was wondering if you'd been called in as well," Rachel said by way of greeting. The two of them quickly fell into step, joining a small line of agents who were just starting to filter in to the meeting room. As opposed to the mission briefing yesterday, everyone in the line was heading towards one of the largest meeting rooms, one which Max had yet to set foot in.

Max and Rachel slipped into the room, finding seats near the entrance. The room was already three-quarters full, and that was still with more agents trickling in. Mairot swept in a moment later and a few stragglers took their places in the room; when the door finally closed Mairot began to address the room.

"As of an hour ago, there has been no contact with either agents Ryan or Diamon. They had been instructed to report in every hour; however, this has been the second report that they have so far missed. Marie Keita was also scheduled to arrive at INTEC fifteen minutes ago, but this has also yet to occur." Mairot paused to let the agents digest the news and its potential consequences. "We have also been able to confirm a second piece of news: Jefferson Smith has suffered a suspected heart attack and is currently in the hospital."

At that, hurried whispers began circling around the room, and out of the corner of his eye Max saw Rachel looking at him with both caution and concern. Max, however, kept his focus on Mairot - perhaps that pause was more to let him deal with dishing out the second bit of news than allowing people to digest the first.

"As INTEC succession rules stand, I am now temporarily Jefferson's replacement. Any information or briefings that were scheduled to be given to him should be given to me instead. This will remain in place until Jefferson is able to resume his duties."

_Hopefully very soon,_ Max thought to himself.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

Del Oro Memorial Bridge was a bridge in all but name; as it was quite a distance from Nitro Island, Blue Base, or any of the other small islands dotted around Del Oro it was instead a pier, jutting out quite far in to the ocean. As to what it memorialised, no one had the faintest idea - was it commemorating a war effort, people who'd died for a notable cause, or something else? The pier had been named with no real discussion and the name, although odd, had stuck.

As it was approaching mid-afternoon on a sunny August day the place was exceedingly packed, leaving very few clues for anyone to spot, let alone the agents currently scouting out the area. Anything which might have been present could have easily been kicked away or picked up by an unsuspecting passer-by; the other potential was that there was nothing there to find in the first place.

Rachel cautiously looked at Max; he had been unusually silent since Mairot's declaration of Smith being in the hospital and him becoming the _de facto_ head of INTEC but she had chosen not to comment about it. Instead, she continued with her work, but as time went on and Max became more an more anxious and annoyed, the more difficult it became.

"Nothing," Max practically spat as he came back from asking yet another random passer-by. "No one has seen anything. All of the people here either didn't notice or weren't here when it happened. How do people get by without noticing these kind of things?"

"Max, I can understand your frustration and worry over your father, but if you're going to let your emotions override why you're here, then I'll have no choice but to order you off this mission. You can gladfully then spend the time you would be here helping at home instead."

Max turned to look at Rachel, opening his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it after reasoning that snapping at his superior would land him in more trouble than just simply being sent off this mission. He turned back to look at the crowds, trying to clear his mind and focus on the task at hand.

"Nothing," Leila said a few minutes last as she reconvened with the other two agents. "Couple of people who work at the local businesses say they may have seen people matching the description but can't say anything more than that. CCTV cameras that we spotted are also just used as deterrents, so there's no film in them and no visual records or back-ups."

"Brilliant," Max snapped, earning him a look from Rachel. He ignored her look, instead turning to one of the people passing by and quickly asking them if they had seen anything.

Leila took a quick glance at Max before lowering her voice and speaking to Rachel. "No one else seems to have seen anything; we're wasting time here. Maybe we'd better head back?"

Rachel mused on that for a moment, looking over at Max. "Maybe we should."

"They've not seen anything either," Max said, the person he'd been talking to now having walked off. "Tell me honestly, was this all just a waste of time?"

"Of course not," Rachel said automatically; Max gave her a disbelieving look.

"I'm going to go see my dad." Max gently pushed his way into the crowds, electing to turn right and head back in the direction of INTEC.

[ - ]

Josh shifted in his chair, wondering why they made hospital chairs so uncomfortable to sit in. The fact that it was plastic, too small for any adult of average or above height, and squeaked whenever he moved did it no favours whatsoever.

Josh glanced over at his father for what felt like the third time in five minutes. Jefferson was still unconscious, uncertainty over whether that was because of his suspected heart attack or a medically-induced coma, various wires trailing off him and connecting to numerous machines. Josh had suspected he'd been hooked up to very similar machines a few months before, and only hoped that his dad looked a lot better than he had.

The seemingly-only fortunate consequences of Jefferson Smith being the CEO of N-Tek, and thus exceedingly well-known, was that he had been assigned a private section at the end of the ward, along with various, numerous security precautions. Somehow - Josh wasn't quite sure - Mairot had managed to ensure that at least some of the guards outside of the hospital room were INTEC agents.

"You know you really shouldn't be here, kid."

"Hey, you never kicked me out when I arrived, Nez. Far as I'm concerned, that's a free pass." Josh shifted in his seat again, another earache-inducing, high-pitched squeak emitting from the chair as he did so. He leaned back as far as he dared, folding his arms across his chest and looking out of the hospital room window. "So, how many threats have you neutralised since you've been here?"

"There. Two accounts of nurses trying to finish up the job, and one teen pretending to be Smith's son to gain access." Josh looked over his shoulder, a thin, world-weary smile on his face; Jake offered one in kind. "Look, I know you're frustrated, maybe feeling powerless, but there's not really much you can do. You're not meant to be here, you're not on guard duty - between us and the regular staff at the hospital we've got things covered."

"You're just trying to get me to leave; too polite to kick me out?"

"Something like that. I can get a hold of you at a moment's notice. Go home, get some sleep, and I'll let you know when Smith wakes up."

"All right." Josh stood up, grabbing his jacket from the back of the seat he had been sitting on. He didn't bother to pause and put it in, but simply walked past Jake and towards the elevators.

It was a long wait for the elevator and Josh could almost swear he felt Jake's eyes boring a hole into his skull but he didn't look back. Instead he kept his eyes focused on the elevator, stepping in when it finally arrived and, once he got to ground level, began to walk out of the hospital.

As soon as he was outside, the fresh air hitting his senses, Josh paused. He took a couple of steps to the side, avoiding blocking the entrance, and pulled out his phone. He'd turned it off after his first visit to the cardiac unit but with everything that had occurred he had forgotten to turn it back on.

Mere seconds after his phone was switched on and operational, he got message notifications - two text messages, one from Pete and one from Laura, both querying where he had gone. Those were both time-stamped to two hours ago, and Josh winced. He hadn't been aware it had been that long and turned his attention to the three voice-mail messages. The first was from Pete (an hour and a half ago), and the other two were from Laura (an hour ago and twenty minutes ago). Josh only needed to listen to the first few seconds of each message to get the gist of what they were saying: concern and worry, the occasional hint of anger or annoyance, and likely at the end a note for him to call them when he got the messages.

Josh exited out of the voicemail, pulling the phone away from his ear and loaded up his contacts, scrolling through until he found Pete's number. Hitting 'dial', Josh put the phone back to his ear and counted off the rings. After the third one, Pete answered.

"McGrath? That you?"

"Uh, yeah, Pete, it's me."

Even if Josh hadn't had superhuman hearing, he would have betted that he would still have been able to hear Pete from halfway across the parking lot.

"Where the hell have you been? Laura and I have been walking up and down campus for most of the day trying to find you! Alex said he'd seen you dashing out of class and that was the only information we'd had! Thanks to you, we've been missing classes left, right, and centre!"

"Is Laura there?" Josh asked tentatively, wondering if he'd have to endure something similar from her.

"No, she decided to head for your house about twenty minutes ago, see if maybe you'd snuck back there to have a nap. McGrath, for your sake you'd better not have blown a day of classes for a _nap_."

"Costas, I'll explain in a bit. Can you head over to my house?"

"Oh, sure. Not like I've got anything better to do, like maybe go to class." The line went dead, and Josh sighed.

[ - ]

Josh pulled into his driveway, seeing Laura sitting on the front steps and Pete angrily pacing beside her. Pete didn't pause in his pacing, but instead fixed Josh with a harsh glare as he pulled up next to the house, making Josh feel more than a little uncomfortable.

Pete gave Josh time to get out of the car, but as soon as Josh closed the door, Pete started up ranting again.

"So, McGrath, you gonna tell us where you were? 'Cause right about now you owe me -"

"My dad's in the hospital." That was enough to silence Pete for the time being. "Come on, let's go inside."

Josh walked up the steps to his front door, unlocking it and letting both Laura and Pete head in first before he did so as well. Pete flumped down on the single chair while Laura curled herself up on the sofa, looking up at Josh expectantly.

"I dashed out of class because I got a message telling me my dad had had a suspected heart attack," Josh began, standing in front of his two friends. "I've been at the hospital since, that's why my phone was off and I didn't get any messages until now.

"The doctors say he's going to be fine; barring any complications, which they don't think will happen, he'll be out tomorrow."

"So, uh, what happened?" Pete asked, receiving confused looks from both Josh and Laura.

"He had a heart attack," Josh said. "What do you _think_ happened?"

"I didn't mean it...what I meant was, uh...never mind. Anyone want pizza?"

Before either Josh or Laura could reply Pete had already leapt from his seat, phone in hand and walked over to the kitchen. Pete pushed the door closed behind him but even still Josh could hear Pete dialling a number and cheerfully talking to someone - quite likely the local pizza delivery place.

"How are you doing?" Laura said, turning her attention back to Josh. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Really," Josh added when Laura gave him a disbelieving look.

"If you say so." The two of them lapsed into silence, only breaking when Pete walked back out of the kitchen.

"Pizza's ordered," he said, sitting down in the seat he had previously been occupying. Josh grabbed the television remote and switched the television on, flicking to a random channel and sitting down next to Laura. As soon as he was sitting down, Laura shifted over and sat next to Josh, his arm wrapped around her shoulders.

After a while the pizza arrived, Pete getting up and paying for it. He set it down on the table in front of the television, keeping up a running commentary on nothing for a good five minutes until he realised that neither Josh nor Laura were really paying attention, and then lapsed into silence.

Pete headed off half an hour later, muttering something about a date but still got no reaction from either of the other occupants. Laura had kept quiet, not knowing how to broach any kind of subject with Josh, and Josh...mentally, he was still back at Saint Jude's hospital.

[ - ]

Carlos Ramirez, Nathan Genowitz and Sophia Skarzgaard watched from the sidelines as a multitude of scientists rushed around the room, picking up seemingly-random items or conversing with a fellow scientist in Swahili. Some of them were in hazchem suits, with another one in the process of suiting up, the only indication of the potentially dangerous situation they were all in the middle of.

"Oimore," Jonny Oduya greeted the three agents. "Well, considered the circumstances I'd hardly call this a 'good' afternoon."

"Oimore," Ramirez greeted back, watching as one of the scientists exited the room carrying a small bundle of test tubes. "What's happened?"

"One of the patients went critical twenty minutes ago; we have so far managed to stabilise him but we are likely running out of time. Without a vaccine his odds do not look good."

The scientist, now suited up in hazmat gear, brushed past the group of agents. Skarzgaard looked over her shoulder at the quickly-retreating scientist before turning back to look at Jonny and speaking.

"What about the sample of the virus? Don't you have that currently available?"

To his credit, Jonny looked very dismayed. "There is some bad news around that, I'm afraid. The sample we had to try and engineer a vaccination - for both future infections and to see if it would work on the people in quarantine - has gone missing."

"Missing?"

"Yes, missing. Everything was secured last night, everyone and everything accounted for, and this morning we arrive to find the sample missing."

"Do you have any idea who might have stolen it?"

Jonny shrugged. "A new, level four virus with no known cure or antidote currently, seen in only a few farmers in Kenya? There are many, many people in the world who would like to get their hands on something like this, but I doubt many people outside of this building or INTEC know about it. For all I know, one of our own scientists stole it."

"Which is always a reassuring thought," Skarzgaard muttered, mainly to herself.

"We are working on a second sample of the virus, doing our best to keep this one locked up. However, if this was an inside job the second sample could be stolen just as easily. We are hopeful that we will find a cure, but we're doubtful it will be found before the last person dies. The person who went critical twenty minutes ago was the first to do so, but everyone is deteriorating rapidly; I would not expect them to last the week.

"I cannot see why you are here: unless it is to check that the lab has adequate security measures, and even then..."

"Maybe we're here to make sure the second sample doesn't get stolen as well," Ramirez muttered under his breath. "Regardless," he added, resuming a normal speaking volume. "We're here now, so can we see the lab?"

"Of course." Jonny swept around, walking towards the door and opening it without a moment's hesitation. The three agents followed after him a few seconds later, heading out of the room and down the hallway.

"When we arrived this morning, there was no sign of forced entry," Jonny said as the four of them walked down the hallway. "We checked inventory and the only thing missing was the virus sample. Nothing else was missing; everything was where it was intended to be."

"Another mark for an inside job," Skarzgaard said. "Who was the person who said that the virus was missing?"

"Two people, not including myself. Kibaki and Moi were on the schedule to check the lab first thing in the morning and were the ones to raise the alarm. I had come in early to check up on things and was able to go in and check that the sample was missing."

"Have you noticed any suspicious behaviour from either of them? Anything else that might be of note?"

"No, there has been nothing. The only thing which may be of use is the fact that they are two of the newest scientists hired. Kibaki has been working here for about three years while Moi has only recently been hired, not more than two months."

Jonny slowed to a halt in front of an imposing metal door. It was only the size of a single door but seemed heavily reinforced, no window of any kind looking into the lab, and two keypads to the right of the door.

"I am afraid that, due to the nature of the work, only two people can go in to the lab at any one time. Given recent circumstances I am loathe to let anyone in without my supervision, and as such..."

"I'll head in," Skarzgaard said, glancing over at the other two agents. "You two, stay where you are."

"Very well," Jonny said, walking over to the keypads and swiping his card in. He waited for a quick 'beep' before inputting a sequence of numbers; once done, the door to the lab clicked open and he grabbed the handle of the door, opening it wide and letting Sophia walk in first.

[ - ]

Kat's cheek stung as someone's hand made contact, bringing her into a state of half-consciousness. She partially opened her eyes and blearily managed to make out dark shadows and bright lights before her mind threatened to drag her into unconsciousness again, but a second slap prevented that. With a groan that was a mixture of annoyance and frustration and opened her eyes fully.

She wasn't able to completely make out what was around here, but she could make out the outline of something person-shaped in front of her. Still dizzy, she was unable to really ascertain much, but what she could do was hock a loogie in to what she hoped was the person's eye.

With a muttered oath of "bitch" and the person-shaped object moving back, she guessed that it had hit true and that whoever was in front of her was not best pleased about it. She regained some more focus, flexing her wrists and finding them coming up short. A quick manipulation of her fingers found cool metal, and a similar quick exploration also told her that her legs were bound to something.

Handcuffed and tied to a chair, glorious.

The person-shaped object had recovered by now, and between that and Kat not being so bleary-eyed she was able to get a better look at him. The man stepped towards her, menacingly, one hand clenched into a fist. The other hand he used to grab Kat's chin, forcing her head up and to look at him.

Dark brown, almost black hair, dark brown eyes, and a medium complexion that could belong to a large percentage of people in the world. He towered over Kat, and would have still done so even if she wasn't tied down in a chair. Average face, average features, nothing which would mark him out in a crowd of faces.

"Leave her," someone said, the voice echoing around the room slightly. With more than a slight bit of reluctance the first man let go of Kat's chin and stepped back, unclenching his fist as he did so. The glower on his face and his hunched shoulders showed that he was still at least a _little _bit angry.

"She's not the one we need to worry about," the second person continued. Kat snorted at that; if they honestly thought that about her, they had another think coming. The first person clenched his fists again when she snorted, but after a few seconds relaxed them.

Kat was now able to get a better look at her surroundings, finding herself to be in a cell - the person who had grabbed her obviously in the same cell with her, the second person potentially outside. The walls were stark white, nothing of interest let alone note anywhere she could see.

"So, had to tie a girl up to beat her? Pretty pathetic," Kat said with a smirk. "Tough guy over here," she inclined towards the man in the room with her, "Seems to have some pretty big anger management issues."

"Shut up."

"Oh, you talk." Kat's smirk grew wider. "Make me."

Person one stepped towards her, leaning over and pressing his face against Kat's. Out of the corner of her eye, now that person one had moved, she could see where the second person was: on the other side of the cell bars, sitting on a chair and simply observing the proceedings. Like person one, person two was nondescript and had nothing unusual or notable about him. Black hair and grey eyes, pale skin, and what looked like might have been a thin scar on his cheek...or just the way the light was hitting his face.

"Leave her," the second person said again, and the first person withdrew back to his previous spot.

"Well, I think we know who wears the pants in this relationship, and I doubt it's mister-lets-his-fists-do-the-talking."

Person one drew something from his belt, and as he drew closer Kat could see it was a small dagger. He menaced closer to Kat, holding the item out a short distance away from her face, as if daring Kat to speak again.

"Ooh, scary. You know, if you draw a weapon like that? Means you're a coward."

"Oh really?" the first person said, leering at Kat. He closed the distance between the two of them, pressing the dagger against Kat's throat. "Funny, a coward has a dagger pressed to your throat and you don't say a word."

"Go fuck yourself."

"You've got quite the tongue on you," the first person said, leaning in closer. "Better be quiet unless you want it cut out of you."

Kat didn't respond verbally, but just chose to glare at him instead.

"Interesting how people become less cocky and certain when they're aware they can be hurt," the second person said from the other side of the cell bars. Kat twisted around as much as she could to see the second person, moving carefully to avoid the dagger digging too far into her neck. To her surprise, the first person leaned back to give her room to manoeuvre.

"You want cocky? I'll give you cocky you son of a -"

[ - ]

"Berto? Berto?" Jessica caught sight of Berto slumped over the console and sighed. She placed the folders she had been carrying under her arm and walked over to the console, rolling her eyes and muttering something when she heard the sound of faint snores emitting from Berto. As she drew even closer she could see Berto hadn't even bothered to take his glasses off; they were askew and hanging half-off his face, threatening to fall to the console at any moment.

Jessica placed a hand on Berto's left shoulder, shaking him gently. When Berto's only response was muffled nonsense she shook him a bit more forcefully, adding in hissed mentions of his name. After a few seconds he lifted his head, eyes still closed, and Jessica had a momentary second of relief that he had woken up.

"_Cinco mas minutes,_" Berto mumbled, shuffling over to his right a little bit to find a more comfortable resting spot. He folded his arms on the console and rested his head on them, letting out a small sigh. Jessica resisted the urge to slam her hands down on the console - she didn't want to risk damaging it as she suspected it cost more than she made in a year - and used the other option available to her.

"Roberto Miguel Alejandro Fernando Nicolás Martinez!"

Berto woke up in shock, turning around in his chair and looking around the room in confusion. He adjusted his glasses, placing them back on correctly, and looked up to see Jessica standing there.

"Jessica?"

"Good, you're awake." Without waiting to exchange any more pleasantries, Jessica grabbed the folder she'd stuffed under her shoulder and shoved it at him. "Here; information from D-INT on who might have wanted to kidnap Marie Keita. The short list is much easier to read: practically every terrorist organisation in existence who would love to see the end of the UN."

Berto gave the folder a sceptical look; it was a very thin envelope and didn't look like it could contain too much information. Jessica caught his look and smiled slightly.

"Oh, yeah, you'll need a microscope to see any of the names."

Berto took the folder from Jessica, settled it on his lap and began to flick through the pages, seeing nothing but absolutely miniscule text printed in five columns on both sides of the paper.

"Dare I ask why someone decided that we didn't need this printed in a readable font?" Berto asked, closing the folder and tossing it onto the console before swivelling his chair back around.

"Someone, one of the higher-ups, decided that we were using too much paper and that," she indicated the folder, "is there way of trying to get us to cut down on its usage. I'm calling it a punishment." Jessica was silent for a few moments as Berto returned his attention to the console, typing in a few commands and seeing some text appear on the screen. "So, change of subject, what are you doing for Christmas?"

Berto turned and fixed her with a look. "It's August."

"Yes, well, never too early to plan. I've already scheduled in my time off and booked my flights; I'm going to be heading back to Puerto Rico to see my _madre, padre, y hermano._"

"_Hermano_? I didn't know you had a brother."

"Yup. He's a couple of years older than me, stayed in Puerto Rico to be a mechanic. A stark contrast to me, a sister who got an engineering PhD and decided to live in the United States, working for a sports technology company." Jessica smiled wanly. "If only they knew."

"I know the feeling. Doctorate at seventeen, and instead of doing something useful with it I go and work for a sports technology company barely anyone in my family had heard of before. My mother is always on my case about finding a better job, one more suited to my talent and degree; she doesn't complain about the money I send back home though."

"Living like royalty," Jessica joked. She glanced over at the corner of the monitor to see what the time was. "Hey, sorry, can't chat any longer, I've got some work to do." She headed out of the room, turning around and giving Berto a quick wave before she disappeared. A few seconds passed before Berto got up and grabbed the previous lab results he'd been given.

_So do I,_ he thought to himself as he headed out of the ops room and down towards the lab.

[ - ]

Sophia walked out of the lab in a foul mood, Jonny following up behind her and resetting all of the security measures once the door was closed. There had been nothing to see in there, no purpose to her or anyone else scouring the room for anything out of place; it was as secure as it was ever going to get, and the only thing her going in accomplished was verifying Jonny's story.

"Any luck?" Genowitz asked as Sophia stood outside the door, and she shook her head in response.

"Nothing yet. Jonny, what are the logs for entrance and exit on that lab?"

Jonny looked slightly taken aback. "I can request them for you, but I cannot say how long they would take."

"Get them," Sophia ordered. The three agents waited while Jonny disappeared into one of the numerous rooms on that floor of the hospital, returning a short while later with a sheet of paper.

"Here are all the access records for the past three days," Jonny said as he handed the sheet of paper to Sophia, letting her quickly glance down at the page at the small number of records. "These are only the people who have been accessing the lab, and they are people who know of the existence of the people infected with the Caine virus in this hospital."

"Thanks," Sophia said, folding the sheet of paper up and placing it in one of the inside pockets of her jacket. "Ramirez, Genowitz, we're heading back." She turned back to Jonny as the two agents began to make their way towards the elevators. "Thank you for your help, Jonny."

"My pleasure. I just hope we can find out what has happened here."

[ - ]

"We're now looking at the strong possibility this was a multi-person effort rather than an individual."

Ramirez looked up at Sophia in shock, while Genowitz just looked confused. After a quick trip they were back at their temporary base, a hotel room which had been swept and declared free of bugs or any listening devices of any type. Genowitz was standing up against the far wall, Ramirez on one of the beds, Sophia in front of the television.

"You mean more than one person took a bribe? Have to wonder how much some people think another's life is worth." Ramirez leaned back on the bed, back resting against the wall.

"I don't want to know," Sophia said, pulling out the list of access records and glancing through them yet again. "According to this, in the past three days no one has been in that lab alone - there has always been at least two people logging in at the same time, and logging out within seconds of each other. No one has been in the lab long enough on their own to steal the virus."

"What about R&D?" Genowitz asked. "Surely there might have been some people there who could have been talked into stealing it, more then who had been given access to the lab?"

"It's possible, but they'd have an even narrower window to steal the virus. They were informed that the virus was dangerous, but kept specifics secret for fear that something like this might happen."

"Why? If more people knew about it, surely it'd be safer. We did the same thing with the nanotech MX - practically everyone who worked for INTEC knew about their existence and we all knew what to do in case of an accident or emergency."

"Maybe," Sophia said. "It does also mean more people who could let the secret out. If someone was determined enough to steal the virus, more people knowing about it would simply mean more people to bribe. Currently the Caine virus is dangerous but not easily transmittable; some engineering could ensure it's both. That would give whoever is in possession of it a lot of bargaining power - pay me a million dollars per person otherwise I unleash this virus on your country. They could easily earn many times more money than they had paid in bribes."

Genowitz and Ramirez fell silent and all of them considered the ramifications of that. Four people infected, in quarantine in a Nairobi hospital? Manageable. A large majority of people in Nairobi infected, and the strong probability of infecting everyone else? Near-on chaos.

"Do you have any idea who might have stolen the virus?" Ramirez said.

"Based on the information we have? I would say our best bet is Kibaki and Moi. They were the first people in the lab after the virus was stolen, but we only have their word on that aspect. They could have very easily reported in for work and stolen the virus sample themselves before raising the alarm.

"They're both relatively new, Moi especially. They may not have built up much in the way of job loyalty, job security, and savings. A large enough bribe may have been enough for them to consider stealing it, regardless of the consequences - as you said, Ramirez, people will do almost anything for enough money."

"So what do we do in the meantime?" Genowitz asked. "We can't head back to Del Oro without a sample of the virus, especially not when the first one is who-knows-where."

"We wait," Sophia said simply. "Jonny said they are working on extracting a second sample; we'll be there to ensure that sample isn't stolen and return to Del Oro as soon as we can. While we're here and waiting we can do some research and scouting and see if we can find any leads, rather than speculation, on who might have stolen the first sample."

[ - ]

Laura had left the beach house not even fifteen minutes ago, stating that she had some work to do, but even with the television on Josh found the beach house to be too quiet without someone else there with him. He'd tried flicking through the channels to find something different, turning up the volume to a pre-accident loud level, even considering switching a radio on in another part of the house but nothing seemed to cut through the deafening absence of another person.

Instead, he packed up a few of his things, enough for a couple of days, and tossed them in to his car and headed up to his father's house. The path up from Josh's beach house and the centre of Del Oro to the mountains where Jefferson has his house was becoming almost second nature to Josh; not surprising considering the amount of times he'd been driving between the two areas.

However, as he approached Jefferson's house Josh felt a little strange. It has been about a month since he had last been at his father's house, and that was when he was packing up various things in the process of moving to his beach house. As he reached the intersection where left would turn him down to Laura's parents' house, he instead turned right to head up the mountain a little further. Josh wasn't sure if Jefferson had managed to afford the house at the top of the hill because he was the CEO of N-Tek, with the high salary it demanded, or whether the house had been at least a little bit cheaper fifteen years ago.

Josh pulled up to the entrance of the estate, leaving his car running momentarily as he got out of the car and entered his access code into the wide, imposing gates swung open and allowed him access. He got back in his car and drove up the path, the gates closing automatically behind him.

Josh pulled up in his usual car parking space, noting that Jefferson's car wasn't present; quite likely still back at N-Tek's underground car park, Josh mused. He used his keys to unlock the door and let himself in, almost immediately hearing the soft tinkling of a bell and seeing a fluffy, largely-white cat trotting towards him in greeting.

"You been lonely?" Josh said to the cat, bending down and giving it a quick stroke. He tossed his keys onto the nearby table and headed back outside, closing the door behind him to make sure the cat didn't get outside.

A few minutes later, Josh had all the items brought from his car piled up at his feet and he opened the front door, quickly tossing all the items inside. Once inside himself, he shut the door and carried all the items up the flight of stairs and down the hallway into his room.

Josh had been in the same room since he was five years old, and although on a quick glance the room looked like it belonged to an older teenager, there were still hints and items around to indicate that someone younger had occupied the room at some time. In the far corner of the room, placed on a chest of drawers, was a framed photo he'd received from one of the Del Oro Dreamers when he was eight, the baseball he'd received on the same day resting nearby.

Josh walked over to his bed and practically fell backwards on to it, staring up at the ceiling and seeing a large poster covering most of the ceiling: a poster of an Aston Martin DB4 Convertible, the car he'd dreamed of when he was a teenager. Most of the other posters had been removed from the walls when he moved into the beach house but as that one was large and in a rather odd position Josh hadn't had the motivation to take it down.

"What am I going to do?"

[ - ]

Five year old Josh looked up at the huge building in awe and fear. He'd never seen a house so big, and he clutched the hand of the teddy bear he had been holding tighter, thankful that Uncle Jeff had let him bring it with him. He was five, a grown-up boy, he didn't need things like teddy bears for comfort - yet, in that moment, he did.

Something crashed to the ground and Josh looked behind him to see that Uncle Jeff had dropped one of the suitcases from the car. It was still shut and Josh continued to watch as Uncle Jeff picked it up and put it right-way up next to a bunch of other suitcases. They'd been living in the old house for the past couple of days on only the basic items as the movers had come in and taken most of the large items - furniture and the like - up to the house in the mountains. The only things remaining were beds and the kitchen table, and Uncle Jeff had said those would be arriving later that day.

Without warning, Uncle Jeff appeared at Josh's side and bent down until he was at eye level. Uncle Jeff smiled at Josh, and Josh tried to return it.

"Let's go inside. You can see what your bedroom will look like."

Josh nodded, taking Uncle Jeff's hand with his free one, the two of them walking into the house together. The first thing that Josh noticed when he walked in was the size of the house; if he had thought it big from the outside, it was massive from the inside. The entranceway was filled with shiny, polished wood and two curved staircases, one to the left and one to the right. On the right was an archway leading into a living room; on the left a second archway leading into a kitchen. Uncle Jeff tugged on Josh's arm and the two of them made their way up the left staircase, walking along the landing until they reached the second to last door.

"This is going to be your bedroom," Uncle Jeff said before pushing the door open and letting Josh look inside. The room was empty and the walls a bland, light yellow, a single but reasonably sized window on the far wall. At Uncle Jeff's prodding, Josh took a step inside and looked around, clutching his teddy bear to his chest.

"This is all mine?" Josh asked quietly, turning to look back at Uncle Jeff. This bedroom was much bigger than the one he'd had at Uncle Jeff's place, or his family home. It looked even bigger than the living room in his family home, and that was just one room.

Uncle Jeff nodded. "Yes, this will all be yours. Come on, I've got a lot more to show you," he added, beckoning Josh over. Josh walked back over to Uncle Jeff, taking his hand again and being taken on a tour of the rest of the house.

[ - ]

Josh didn't like the house.

Josh didn't _want_ to like the house.

He didn't see why he had to move away from the place he'd been living in near the sea up to some house surrounded by boring mountains. Sure, he had a larger bedroom and plenty of yard space to play in (although Uncle Jeff had told him to make sure he played his games facing away from the house) but he liked being by the sea.

"What did you want to do after lunch?" Uncle Jeff asked, and Josh looked up at him briefly before returning his attention to his lunch. Uncle Jeff had ordered in some Chinese because the kitchen wasn't working, and they were sitting on almost opposite ends of the sofa in the living room, balancing plates of food on their laps. "Did you want to go down to the hardware store and pick out some paint for your new room?"

Josh shrugged, picking up another piece of food and eating it. He stayed hunched over, eyes focused on his plate, not even glancing at Uncle Jeff again.

Uncle Jeff sighed. "Blue? Red? Or do you think the yellow's nice?"

Another shrug. Josh finished his lunch, putting the plate on the coffee table in front of him.

"I'm going out to play."

"Be careful."

[ - ]

The sound of his cell phone ringing brought Josh out of his daydream and he glanced around to the room to try and see where he had left it. The phone stopped ringing abruptly, but a few seconds later started up again. This time, Josh amplified his hearing to see if he could lock on to where he'd left it, but as he got up from the bed he saw that it wasn't necessary. He'd dumped his cell phone on the desk halfway across the room, and he strolled over to pick it up, answering as he did so.

"Hello?"

"Josh McGrath, is that you?" Jake said, sounding a little confused.

"Yeah, it's me."

Jake breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh good, I've been trying to get in contact with you for the past ten minutes. You weren't answering your home phone so I -"

"I'm not at home," Josh said. "I haven't been home for a while. What's happened?"

There was silence for a few moments, Josh using that time to walk out of his room and into the hallway. However, when Jake didn't start speaking again for another few seconds, Josh grew concerned.

"Jake? What's going on."

"To be honest, I'm not completely sure myself."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Josh paused, looking over the railings at the front door of the house. "Jake, I'm not going to ask again - what is going on?"

"Two hours ago, Hugins, Grantham and Cherabi swapped in to guard Jefferson Smith, relieving myself, Murtaugh, and Grange from duty. When we left, everything was as it should be and I instructed Hugins of procedure: report back to INTEC every hour even if nothing of the situation has changed. Everything was fine until I got a report from Hugins saying that Jefferson Smith had disappeared.

"I'm at the hospital now; there's no trace of him anywhere and no records of him checking himself out. We've liaised with hospital security to do a complete search of the building, but no one had found anything."

"That was fast; either that or there's something you appear to be avoiding telling me."

There was another moment of silence before Jake spoke again.

"Jefferson was reported missing half an hour ago."

"_Half an hour_? Is there any reason why I wasn't informed until now?"

"We wanted to exhaust all possible options before I contacted you. We wanted to make sure he was actually missing and hadn't just woken up and wandered off somewhere to see if he could find where he was."

"He'd had a _heart attack_ and was either unconscious or in a medical coma. I doubt that my father's first reaction on waking up in an unfamiliar place would be to head off and investigate where he was. No, he's a lot more likely to simply stay where he was and find out what was going on without wandering off.

"Are you even _trying _to find him?"

"Of course we are: I radioed in to INTEC base the moment we knew of this situation, and people at INTEC are themselves running through options and seeing if they'll be able to uncover anything."

"Good."

Jake stifled a groan of annoyance as the phone went silent; Josh had evidently just hung up on him in frustration. He pocketed his cell phone and looked back to the situation he was covering: two more agents had arrived from INTEC and were currently scanning over the empty hospital room just in case anything had been overlooked.

Standing outside the room, phone in hand after a just-completed phone call, Jake almost felt like he was back in INTEC two months ago, making the call to Jefferson he knew he would not like.

"You're a lot more alike than you think, Steel."


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Just a little note - I've had a fanmix for this story on my hard drive for a while, and I'd forgotten than people reading this somewhere other than the forums wouldn't have seen it. So, if you're interested, head over to playlist?list=PLjtDvFeDPIXtTWKG-Mjm8HF9xnO17tmxu on youtube (yeah, sorry, can't post the full URL as it gets stripped out). I will caution, there are plans and notes for the whole story in those songs, so...watch with caution :P

Chapter Nine:

Kat woke up with one of the worst headaches she had ever had in her life, and given some of the things she'd done or encountered, that was a difficult record to beat. Her vision was a lot clearer than before, and she noticed that she was now lying down on her back, on what felt like a very cheap, thin mattress. She glanced around quickly, seeing no other occupants in the cell.

She cautiously stood up, waiting for the pull or restriction of movement which would tell her that she was still tied to something, but she didn't feel anything. She swung her legs over the side of the bed, quickly standing up and taking a step forward - still no restraints stopped her.

A quick glanced around showed her that she seemed to be in the same cell, or at the very least the same type of cell as before. Walls painted the same misty grey-white colour; layout beyond the cell bars the same, and still no features to give her any indication of where she was at all. Thankfully the person who had been sitting behind the cell bars when she last woke up was no longer there.

Kat turned back around and headed to sit back on the bed, but the sound of shoes scuffing against the floor caught her attention and she turned back to look back through the cell bars, expecting to see the person who had been sitting there previously returning.

What she was instead was something that could almost be the stuff of nightmares for someone who hadn't seen half as much as Kat had.

A man with a pure, metal face.

[ - ]

Mount Corinth was the highest point in Del Oro by some magnitude. Steep and craggy it was too difficult to build any kind of structure on it, and also being quite close to Wipeout there were very few people who would want any kind of expensive house there. Further inland, where the oh-so imaginatively named Lake Del Oro was a group of rather tall apartments, far enough away from Wipeout that those who lived there didn't feel too affected by its presence.

As such, the area around Mount Corinth was instead considered prime rock-climbing space with a quickly-constructed car park at the base. Josh had headed out after he received the phone call from Jake and made his way to the top of the mountain, stopping only when he reached the plateau. He'd settled down and just watched the world passing by.

He'd left his cell phone back at his father's house, reasoning that if an emergency came up INTEC would be able to contact him (although if he was being honest he would dread Berto contacting him if he received any bad news). If someone like Laura or Pete wanted to? Well, he'd deal with that later - he was sure that considering what was happening it wouldn't be unreasonable for him to want some time to himself.

"Enjoying the view?" Berto said over the bio-link, almost making Josh jump. If Josh hadn't had the two-second warning of the bio-link crackling to life, he probably would have. Josh responded with a shrug before realising that Berto couldn't see that movement.

"Maybe," Josh said. "I'm guessing there's an update from INTEC about my dad's situation."

"There is. Grantham, Hugins, and Cherabi are currently being investigated, being the last people to be in contact with Jefferson Smith before his disappearance. However, it is looking quite probable that they're going to want to investigate everyone who has or might have been in contact with Jefferson over the past twenty-four hours."

"Including me."

Berto stayed silent, and Josh knew that his guess was spot-on.

"Come on, bro," Josh said, throwing his hands up in the air. "You can't expect them to investigate everyone except me as that would raise suspicions, especially as they'd be investigating _Max Steel_ rather than myself. I might be able to get a pass as his son, but unrelated newcomer Max Steel? Not a chance."

"It's just a precaution; even Rachel and I are being pulled in for questions. When you head into N-Tek you might want to avoid the front entrance," Berto added cryptically.

"Why?"

"You'll see when you get here."

[ - ]

As Josh drove past N-Tek, heading towards the underground tunnel, he could see for himself what Berto had been alluding to. A swarm of reports had descended on the island, standing outside the main entrance and crowding out anyone who might want to attempt to get in through there. Josh checked the time on the dash, seeing that the most recent ferry had been scheduled to stop off at N-Tek Island twenty minutes ago. As he headed towards the underground tunnel he afforded himself a second glance towards the front entrance, seeing quite a number of people standing there with video cameras, some of them resting on the ground and others filming something.

Josh turned into the underground tunnel, zooming along in almost complete silence for a few minutes until the tunnel widened in to the underground car park. He turned into a nearby car parking space, not even caring that it wasn't his assigned one (a faint thought in the back of his mind hoping that the person that space was assigned to had the day off) and headed towards the elevator, pressing the call button.

As he waited for the elevator to arrive, he debated his options: he could take the lift to INTEC and avoid the media circus, or he could go up to reception and head outside to give at least some kind of sound bite to the reporters waiting outside. The urge to simply hide away in INTEC was quite overwhelming, but he suspected that as the son of the CEO the reporters would expect him to make an appearance and say something, even if he had only been announced as working for N-Tek for the past couple of months.

The elevator arrived and Josh pressed the button for the reception floor, getting out when the elevator arrived. He gave a quick nod to the person at the reception desk as he passed him and took a calming breath before stepping out of the main entrance and down the stairs.

For a few seconds, nothing happened, but after one person spotted Josh and recognised who he was, dashing over with a microphone and hurriedly followed by someone with a video camera, the rest also descended on Josh. A multitude of microphones and video cameras were turned in his direction, a barrage of questions starting up.

"Josh McGrath, have you -"

"- reports of kidnapping -"

"- your father -"

"- thoughts?"

"-rival company -"

"Are you -"

"- consequences?"

"I," Josh began, uncertain of quite what to say. The reporters fell silent as he spoke. "This is quite a, um, trying time and...we all know, I mean, Jefferson Smith. He was..."

Josh trailed off, some of the reporters surrounding him sharing glances before starting up with their questioning again.

"What do you think of the rumour that -"

"- illegal schemes?"

"- rival company -"

Josh began to take slow, cautious steps back towards the entrance of N-Tek, almost reaching the steps before the reporters noticed what he was doing.

"This is a time of obvious anxiousness and concern," a female, British-accented voice said clearly and with [force]. Josh glanced over his shoulder to see Rachel standing at the top of the stairs, just outside the front door. All of the reporters stopped trying to get answers from Josh and instead surged towards Rachel. She, in response, walked down the stairs and stood in front of the mass of reporters. "At this time we do not have any kind of answer as to why Jefferson Smith has apparently disappeared. We are liaising directly with Del Oro's police force in this investigation and I would like to request that any and all further questions are to be directed to them."

"Is it true that you're investigating a possible kidnapping?"

"Did someone really try to assassinate Jefferson Smith?"

"Is there anyone you know who would be likely to attack N-Tek in such a way?"

"With Jefferson Smith missing, how are you dealing with the lack of leadership?"

Rachel stood calmly in front of the reporters, responding to the questions with either a "no comment", "I am not one to speculate" or, most commonly, a repeated request to the press to instead direct that question to the police. After a bit the reporters slunk back to their previous positions, allowing Rachel to walk up to where Josh was standing.

"I feel this would be an apt time to get you back inside," she whispered before grabbing his elbow. The two of them turned around and headed back inside the main doors, neither glancing back at the reporters. Rachel allowed enough time for the main doors to close behind them before she turned to Josh.

"De I want to know what you were thinking?" she asked, and Josh looked down at the floor. "The reporters have been out there, waiting for any news or update since the news broke that Jefferson Smith had gone missing. As you saw, they've been accosting anyone who comes in or out of the building, regardless of their knowledge of the situation, or their standing in the company."

"I thought something from the son of the CEO would sound good," Josh said, looking back up at Rachel.

"Well, unfortunately, it didn't. You can be assured that you were not the first person I had to talk to the press on behalf of - there have been a few other people who were not expecting a mob of reporters to descend on them when they stepped outside."

"Why you?"

"Why me what?"

"Why are you the person who's been going out there and talking to the press?"

"I have some experience in these matters, Josh. Hence why I was elected to speak to the press on behalf of many other N-Tek employees. Which is why I have to ask: why did you go out there? You have no new information and, unlike me, are not authorised to speak to the press. What convinced you that it was a good idea?"

"I needed to say _something_. Was I supposed to let them think I didn't care enough about my dad to say even a sentence?"

Rachel sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't think you made that good an impression on the reporters. At best, they'll just think you're not thinking properly in a time of high stress."

"And at best?"

"You may have made N-Tek look unprofessional. We may have looked like we sent out the CEO's son on a whim, giving him no instruction or guidance on what to say and how to act in front of the press, just because we felt that people needed to hear from him."

"So, what can I do now?"

"For now, you should just concentrate on heading to the interview room and answering the questions they've got lined up for you. Once you've answered them, you should go down to the parking garage, get in your car, and leave without interacting with the press. N-Tek will communicate with them through the appropriate channels and people, like myself.

"Notify me when you leave the premises and I'll ensure that Doctor Martinez will keep you updated. Lord knows that man never leaves."

That comment earned a wan smile from Josh and he began to walk away, heading for the portion of the building that would take him down to INTEC.

"Josh."

Josh paused, turning around slightly to look back at Rachel. She'd taken a few steps towards him but there was still quite the distance between them.

"I'll accompany you, if you'd like."

"I could do with a friend," Josh said by way of answer. If Rachel noticed the use of the word 'friend' she paid it no heed, instead simply falling into step next to Josh as the two of them made their way through the corridors of N-Tek.

As they did so, Josh caught faint whispers of conversation going on; most of them were speculation and confusion over Jefferson's disappearance. Something as high profile as Jefferson going missing couldn't be hidden away, and it seemed like everyone, from Chuck the janitor to the most senior people and division chiefs in N-Tek were gossiping and discussing what had happened. Josh, to his credit, tuned them out and instead focused on getting down to INTEC.

Before too long, their trek through the corridors led them to a dead end. Rachel quickly glanced around to make sure no one was nearby before she pressed a hand against the wall, a series of quiet and quick beeps following. Without hesitating, Rachel walked through the wall, being careful not to walk too far forwards, Josh following close behind. Once Josh was through, Rachel turned around to press the same hand against the other side of the wall, a second series of quiet and quick beeps following. Rachel turned back around, looking down at the long staircase still separating them from INTEC.

"Force field active once again," Josh said to himself, pressing a button on his bio-link. Rachel watched without interest as Josh disappeared, replaced by the hologram of Max Steel. Rachel began to head down the stairs, Max quickly following suit.

The further he walked down the stairs, the more Max grew anxious. He swung his arms slightly, twiddled his thumbs, even raised a hand up to scratch a non-existent itch on the back of his head. A glance over at Rachel showed her to be the same as ever: calm and logical.

_Maybe there is some truth in those rumours that Rachel doesn't have _any_ other emotions._

They continued walking down the stairs in silence, Max slowly growing more agitated until he decided to break the silence.

"So, Rachel, what's your family like?"

Rachel's eyes narrowed slightly but returned to normal a few seconds later. If Max hadn't been watching, he wouldn't have seen her reaction.

"I fail to see what this has to do with anything. I was unaware that the topic of my family is grounds for discussion."

"Yeah, well, we've got five more flights of stairs to walk down before we hit INTEC, and I'm bored of walking in silence. Why not spent the time talking? Besides, you hardly ever talk about your family; heck, I know more about Berto's third cousin Antonio than I do about any members of your family. So come on, tell me; any siblings? What are your parents like?"

Rachel suppressed a groan of annoyance. "It's not rare for people to become estranged, Mister Steel."

"Estranged?"

"Yes, estranged. Hostile or unfriendly to one another. I was under the assumption you had taken at least a few English language classes during your education."

"I know what the word means," Max retorted, but that was the end of their attempted conversation. The two continued the rest of their descent into INTEC in silence, Max not even attempting to broach another discussion subject.

The finally reached INTEC, seeing it less crowded but no less chaotic or noisy. In contrast to N-Tek where people were simply milling around, people were instead dashing from place to place, often carrying folders of information or other items with them, and it wasn't uncommon to see someone come out of a room carrying something, head three doors down and into that room, only to return empty-handed a few minutes later. There were a small number of places, largely few and far between, where some agents had stopped to chat, some of them about shared missions or other information, but a large proportion were discussing the recent goings on.

Rachel walked on ahead, Max following behind, keeping his eyes focused ahead and not wondering or thinking about what other people were saying. A couple of people glanced at him as he walked by but as soon as they were out of sight he did his best to put their glances out of his mind.

"They were interviewing Hugins before I headed up to see where you were," Rachel commented as she turned into a hallway lined with doors.

_Interview is a lot nicer sounding than 'interrogation' even if the latter is closer to the truth._

They walked past all of the meeting rooms, instead heading for the corridor on the opposite end. Hitting the intersection, Rachel turned right and headed towards a number of small offices, each of them with a rather obscure numbering scheme.

"So let me guess, after Hugins has finished his interview, they want to interview me."

"Precisely."

"Good times," Max muttered just before they passed another agent. Matthew Park, looking exceedingly nervous, breezed past them, paused, and then back-tracked to where Max was.

"Steel?" Park said, half-calling in to the corridor. He had an accent Max couldn't quite place - British, but not one he recognised. Max stopped and turned around to look at him, aiming for as neutral an expression as he could manage. "Ah, great," Park added upon seeing Max's face. "Good, perfect timing. They've just finished up with Hugins and we're almost ready for you. Come, follow me."

Park waited for Max to take a couple of steps before he himself moved, turning into one of the doors in the corridor, hand waiting on the doorknob as Max approached.

"I'll wait out here," Rachel said, and Max glanced over his shoulder. If he didn't know Rachel better, he could have sworn he'd seen something akin to concern in her eyes, but whatever it was it was gone within a few seconds.

[ - ]

Max leaned back in his chair, staring across the table at the agent opposite him. Watery blue eyes, thin grey hair, looking older than even the janitor. Max was certain he'd never seen that agent before in INTEC, and judging from the way the 'interview' was going it looked like there was a very good reason why. He was also leaving nothing to chance, using three different methods to capture Max's answers: a Dictaphone had been placed on the table in front of him, switched on since the moment Max had stepped into the room. There was also a CCTV camera pointed directly at Max's chair, capturing movement, emotions, and reactions as well as sound, and to finish it off there was some pens and a small stack of paper next to the other agent's left arm, some of it already covered in a quick, messy scrawl.

With all the questions being lobbed his way, Max had lost track of how much time he'd spent in the room. He'd been instructed to turn off his bio-link just before he sat down and with no visual way to determine the time, he had no idea if he'd been there for ten minutes or an hour.

Although, considering just how many questions he'd been asked, he'd suspect it was closer to an hour.

"Where were you at seven-thirty the previous night?"

Max bit back a sarcastic response; that was at least the third time he'd been asked that question. "At my father's house."

"Can anyone verify your location?"

"Technically, no." Visual logs and testimony from Berto would place him at his father's house, but he doubted that they'd take the testimony of another agent and quite likely suspect the visual logs might have been faked. Not because of any strong suspicion against Max, but simply because they'd want to contend with all potential events.

The agent took a break to write down a few notes, pausing in his writing and shifting the already written pieces of paper around and looking down at some of them. His finger traced a line on one of the pages and he nodded to himself before resuming jotting down some notes.

"Was anyone with you before that time?"

"Pete and Laura. Pete Costas and Laura Chen," Max added when the agent looked up at him. The agent raised an eyebrow at being given their full names but said nothing, instead quickly writing the names down. "Pete left at five, Laura left at six-thirty."

"Was this at Jefferson's house?"

"No, this was at mine. I drove over to Jefferson's house shortly after Laura had left. I got there just before seven."

More scribbling, more hurried notes.

"What happened afterwards?"

"Everything was quiet. I got a call from Jake Nez around eight informing me that Jefferson Smith was missing."

"Why you?"

Max was taken aback. "Why me what?"

"Why did Jake Nez specifically call you and inform you of the situation."

"Because I'm Jefferson's son."

"Do you not feel that it would have been better for you to be notified through proper, official channels?"

"No."

After that answer, the other agent changed tactics. He repeated and reworded questions he'd already asked to Max, trying to see if he could find a statement, phrase, or word which would throw what Max had already said in to jeopardy. He asked a question, asked five more, then came back to the first one to ask again. he left Max sitting in silence for minutes at a time as he read through notes he'd written down, trying to corroborate Max's statements with those he'd already received; or, failing that, finding a discrepancy between the two.

"You're free to go," the agent said after what seemed like an age. He stood up and walked to the door, opened it and turned around to look at Max. For a few seconds Max just sat there, looking at the open door, but he quickly got up and walked out of the room, hearing the door slam shut behind him.

He looked down the corridor at where he had parted ways to Rachel, raising his eyebrows in surprise when he saw her still standing there - he hadn't honestly expected her to wait outside for however long his 'interview' had taken.

"How long was I in for?" Max asked as he approached her. Rachel took a quick glance at her watch before answering, Max using the time to turn his bio-link on.

"About thirty minutes by my reckoning."

"Welcome back, _hermano_."

Max had a faint smile on his face at that. He set off down the corridor, Rachel next to him, and was halfway down before he realised that he wasn't quite sure what he was supposed to do now. Head back to his beach house? He'd stew in silence, without anyone else to contact him. Stay here? He had no idea how many rumours were flying around, or indeed what they were about, and he wasn't sure he wanted to stick around too long and find out.

Still, given the other option, he'd much rather stay and overhear rumours than be on his own. The two hit the end of the corridor and Max paused, uncertain of where to go.

"Do you mind stopping by the cafeteria for some lunch?"

"Uh, sure," Max replied, moving to head off to the left. "Didn't really fancy trying to battle the press outside to get some food."

The two of them fell back into silence, heading for the stairs which would take them up two levels to where the cafeteria was. Most of the agents Max and Rachel had seen earlier had disappeared, the corridors now almost eerily silent and empty.

Despite it being almost one, when Max walked through the doors of the cafeteria he found that it, too, was practically empty. He managed to spot Leila with a couple of people he didn't know, as well as a couple of small groups of agents, but considering the size of the cafeteria that was barely enough to fill a row of tables in the room.

Leila spotted Max almost at the same instant, deciding to wave him over; he walked over, a smile on his face. Rachel followed a couple of steps behind.

"Hey Cossan, feeling guilty about abandoning us agents for the engineering side of INTEC?" he said as he stopped beside the table she was sitting at.

Leila flushed a little bit. "Well, we're all employees of INTEC, right? Nothing says we can't keep in contact. You - and, Rachel, hi," Leila added, seeing the blond woman standing behind Max. "Are more than welcome to join us for lunch."

Max squeezed in next to Leila while Rachel opted to sit on the other, less crowded side of the table. Rachel nodded at the other people sitting at the table, all men and, she presumed, engineers who she didn't really recall ever meeting.

"So, big news, huh?" Leila said before taking a quip sip of her drink, earning her a slightly confused look for both Max and Rachel. "Oh, right, forgot: you don't know these guys. Steel, Leeds," she said, indicating the agents as she said their names. "This is Donnely, Kleinfelder, and Licciardi. They're all engineers working for D-FLT."

Max and Rachel exchanged quick greetings with them, Max already committing to memory their appearance and names. Donnely was tall and lanky, potentially even taller than Max himself, with unkempt brown hair and light brown eyes. Kleinfelder had short trimmed black hair and blue eyes, and everything about him seemed to be average: average height, average weight, average appearance. Licciardi had curly brown hair, going slightly bald, dark brown eyes, medium complexion and was slightly taller than average [and also a bit chubby].

"So, you guys heard the latest news?" Donnely said, a smirk on his face. Once again, Max and Rachel exchanged confused looks, and Donnely's smirk grew wider. "Huh, guess not then."

Donnely took a long, slow sip of his drink from an open can, drawing out the suspense. He was relishing the fact that for once _he_ knew something that the big-shot, all-important agents from D-OPT didn't.

"You know D-INT's been running the operation to find out what happened to Jefferson Smith, right? You're not that unobservant." Max shot a glare at that remark, but Donnely either didn't notice or didn't care and continued on. "Well, they spent some time going through video footage of the hospital and they think they've hit a breakthrough."

"Oh?" Rachel asked, and Donnely's smirk grew even wider.

"Yup. Turns out they're going to be investigating Laura Chen for kidnapping. Y'know, the girlfriend of the boss' son. Man, how's _that_ going to be explained to Josh?"

[ - ]

To say that Max took the news badly was an understatement; to most of the people on the table Max simply looked like he'd forgotten something. He mumbled an apology and something about work, stood up, and walked out of the room.

Leila watched him go before turning around and shrugging at the other engineers, but Rachel knew better. She excused herself as well, stating something about paperwork that needed finalising before walking unhurriedly but determinedly out of the cafeteria. Once the door swung shut behind her, she looked around the corridors, spotting Max about halfway down the one to her right, heading for somewhere Rachel didn't quite know. She resumed walking, trying to catch up with Max's rather quick pace.

"Max."

"Kinda busy now, Rache," Max replied without even a falter in his step or a minor reduction in his pace. He turned left at the next intersection, unsure of where he wanted to go but only knowing that he needed to be away from everyone else. Maybe if he got lucky he could find an empty room and hole himself up in there until the whole horrible situation sorted itself out.

_Yes, very mature of you, McGrath._

"Max," Rachel called again, this time with more force and warning. Max grimaced to himself, continuing his quick page, but before too long he heard heels clicking on the tiled floor behind him, the increased pace and louder sound indicating that Rachel was quickly catching up to him.

Before too long, Rachel had caught up to Max and placed a hand on his shoulder. At that action, he stopped, Rachel coming to a halt barely a step behind him. A few seconds passed before Max took a deep breath, his shoulders slumping as he did so. He looked over his shoulder at Rachel, a mix of worry and stress in his eyes.

And a moment later, his back was against the wall, Rachel holding him there firmly but with more than enough room to manoeuvre if he really wanted to get away. Max didn't even bother resisting, just looked into Rachel's green eyes.

"Believe me, Max, I can understand what you're going through in this situation. However, if you are going to _continue_ acting like this, I will be forced to order you home and instruct Berto Doctor Martinez to give you periodic updates on the situation."

"But -"

"I haven't finished. You need to remember to keep things under control. That will be difficult, I know, but think logically for a second. Only a handful of people at INTEC are aware of your double identity; for Max Steel, who has no relation to Jefferson Smith other than being an employee, to be acting so distressed about this whole situation is at best odd and at worst a cause for great suspicion. Laura Chen is already under suspicion; do you want to add your name to that list?"

After a few seconds, Max spoke. "I guess you're right, Rachel." _Little point arguing about it here and now_. Rachel loosened her grip, stepping back from Max and allowing him to move again.

"Because of that...incident...in the cafeteria, I suspect it might be prudent for us to avoid going back there for lunch unless you want to do so."

"No; I need to get out of here for a bit. Screw the reporters; I'll just stay as Max."

"All right. Shall we head over to Café Café?"

"That's as good as any."

[ - ]

Café Café was one of the landmark restaurants in Del Oro; nowhere near the oldest as the Red Iguana took the credit for that, being around for almost as long as N-Tek had been on Nitro Island, but still old enough that a good proportion of the people who visited it hadn't even been born when it first opened.

Despite being in prime location right on the promenade, and exceedingly close to Del Oro Memorial Pier, it somehow managed to offer good food at low prices; a boon for students who watched how much they spent eating out and/or had used their on-campus food cards for the semester.

Rachel was a frequent customer, yet she always had the sneaking suspicion that she'd arrive at Café Café one day to find it closed, a notice on the door saying it was no longer profitable for them to continue trading. Still, that day had yet to arrive and Café Café continued to be a thriving business for practically everyone in Del Oro.

One of the potential reasons, aside from the inexpensive food, was that it offered a fusion of food (which, given that the Red Iguana also offered a fusion of Latin American and American food with some Spanish thrown in, seemed to be either a hallmark of long-established restaurants catering to new and varied tastes or simply them throwing new and popular foods on the menu). Café Café was noted for its Italian-American food with some light French influences; this meant that the majority of dishes were what people would typically expect from something labelling itself Italian-American with a hint of French, but there was also a continuously-rotating specials menu.

Depending on the day and the chef, the specials menu went from "stuff the chefs wanted to try out" to bringing back an occasional old favourite. Some of the specials had, during the decades, made it onto the main menu, but with the exception of the old favourites all of the specials were forgotten as soon as they dropped off the menu.

One other thing which drew large numbers of students was the surprisingly good coffee they served, along with various pastries and sweet items, and also the options of ordering from a slimmed down menu to take away. Still, the most common use of Café Café was as a sit-down restaurant.

Rachel set her glass down on the table, looking across the table at Max. They had elected to sit outside, facing the beach and the ocean as it seemed like a reasonably nice day, but before too long the wind had picked up, offering a chill to everything and driving most of the people who had been sitting outside back inside. The temperature was still reasonable, but the biting wind was more than enough for people to seek shelter.

Max and Rachel had exchanged small talk while deciding what to order, but as soon as the waiter had walked away they had descended into silence, Max seemingly just staring out into the ocean while Rachel simply carried on as normal.

"Are you sure you don't want to head back?"

That caught Max's attention; he broke off from staring at the ocean, turning to look back at Rachel. He opened his mouth to say something but shut it again quickly, this time turning to stare at the tablecloth.

"Shall I take that as a yes or a no?"

"I'm fine here," Max muttered. He grabbed his drink, taking a quick sip before placing it back on the table. He glanced up at Rachel briefly before turning back to stare at N-Tek once again.

"I had thought that being away from N-Tek would enable you to get your mind off proceedings. This is not the best time to be thinking about your father...or Laura...and I was hoping that being out of the building would allow you to forget about things, at least for a short while."

"Yeah, well, as you can see it's not helping," Max said, this time fixing Rachel with a look that lasted more than a few seconds. "I wonder, Rachel, how easily would you be able to forget if your father had a heart attack, disappeared from the hospital, and found out your boyfriend was being charged with his kidnapping?"

At that, Rachel fell silent, neither of them electing to speak again. The two stayed in silence for a good while, only starting up conversation again when Rachel spotted the waiter approaching with their food.

"How have you been enjoying your time at N-Tek?" Rachel asked. Max looked at her with some measure of confusion, but after she glanced towards the waiter Max understood.

"It's been surprisingly good. Pleasant employees, good location, nice entertainment. Del Oro's quite a bit nicer than I had imagined."

"That's always good to hear," Rachel added just as the waiter paused at their table.

"Chilli cheeseburger?" he asked, and Max nodded. The waiter put that meal in front of Max, placing the other item - a chicken ciabatta sandwich - in front of Rachel. "Enjoy your meal," the waiter added before he dashed off.

As before, the two became silent, concentrating on eating rather than anything else going on around them. However, when Max was halfway through eating his burger something caught his attention, and he looked over back into the building.

Rachel followed his glance and saw exactly what had caught his attention. Laura had walked in, being warmly greeted by one of the staff and a large smile on her face. She headed over to the counter, chatting to the person standing there before looking up at the board above all the various coffee and hot drinks machines. A few minutes after giving her order and paying she was given a tall coffee and a pastry in a bag, thanking the person behind the counter. He said something and Laura laughed; she took a quick sip of her drink, said something, and turned around.

As she turned around, Max saw her look over in their direction. She saw them looking at her, a faint frown on her face, but she simply turned around and walked out of the restaurant.

"Shall we quickly finish up here and head back?" Rachel said. Max nodded and the two of them quickly finished off their lunch, Rachel electing to pay when the waiter came by with their bill ("it was my suggestion, Max") and before too long they were both back in Max's car heading back towards N-Tek Island.

[ - ]

"Ah, there you are," Melody Cherabi said as Max and Rachel stepped in to the main corridor of INTEC. She was a short woman with dark skin, her hair tied up in long cornrows. "You've got some pretty good timing."

"Why is that?" Rachel asked, glancing over at Max who shrugged.

"The Del Oro police managed to locate and track down Laura; they've brought her in for questioning regarding Jefferson Smith's disappearance." Max hid a grimace, instead choosing to look at the far wall. Melody ignored Max's reaction and continued on. "They've already got her in the interview room and they've been asking her questions."

Max raised an eyebrow. "That was quick, how long has she been in the interview room?"

Cherabi frowned, not quite sure about Max's question. "Twenty minutes, I think. It's not been _that_ quick; Laura arrived forty minutes ago and after making sure she was the person they were looking for they hurried her into the interview room. They even interrupted the questioning going on at the time in order to get Laura in as soon as they possibly could."

"This doesn't add up," Max said to Rachel, and she nodded. Cherabi glanced at Max, confused.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Are you sure Laura got here forty minutes ago?"

Cherabi hesitated. "Well, maybe between thirty-five and forty-five minutes ago, I wasn't paying close attention. Why do you need to know specifically?"

"We saw Laura at Café Café," Rachel said. "We had headed there for lunch and we saw her, briefly, on the premises."

"Maybe the police picked her up afterwards?" Cherabi said, sounding a little uncertain. "Wouldn't have put it past me for them to whisk her away immediately afterwards."

"Not possible," Max said. "Not unless we've somehow acquired a time machine. We've only just got back from Café Café, and we definitely saw Laura sooner than forty-ish minutes ago."

"Was Laura carrying anything with her? Before they headed for the interview," Rachel said.

Cherabi, still confused, answered. "No, nothing. Are you going to tell me what's going on, or are you going to continue asking cryptic questions?"

Rachel took a deep breath before answering. "While Max and I were at Café Café we saw Laura walk in and order a coffee from the counter; that was about ten minutes before we left to head back here. The drive between Café Café is another ten minutes, meaning we saw Laura approximately twenty minutes ago. While the items that she ordered could have been discarded by either herself or the police, the fact is that the times simply don't add up.

"Laura was taken in to the interview room twenty minutes ago, but at around that same time Max and I saw her at Café Café."

Cherabi hesitated before answering, those details mulling around in her mind. "So, either you're mistaken on seeing Laura -"

"We're not," Max replied adamantly.

"The people in the interview room are mistaken and are interviewing someone who looks exceedingly like Laura..."

"Or we've got a mimic on our hands. If that's the case, then who is the real Laura?"

"Assuming there's only one mimic," Rachel said, casting a dark mood over the three agents.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Life's taken a bit of a hectic turn so I'm putting this back on a every-other-week update schedule. I might have some more 100 prompts fics soon to make up for it though.

Chapter Ten:

Max stared through the one-way glass, looking into the brightly-lit interview room he himself had only been in an hour or so ago. Unsurprisingly the room was as he had seen it when he had been present: CCTV camera was still pointing at the chair, Dictaphone was still on the desk, and the pile of papers the other agent had been writing on were now stacked into three piles, the smallest of which Max assumed was currently unused, blank paper.

Sitting in the chair, back against the far wall and staring through the one-way glass (or would have been if she was able to see through it) was Laura...or at least, someone who looked identical to her. She was wearing the exact same clothes as Max had seen her wearing in Café Café, the same hairstyle, even the same faint application of makeup on her face. She was looking suitably anxious and nervous, quite likely wondering just why she was there, especially as the person who had been interviewing her, the same one who had been interviewing Max, had made his excuse to leave the room a few moments ago; he was now in the observation room along with Max and Travis Murtaugh.

"Are you sure?" the agent asked, looking past Max and back into the room. "The police stated that they had done checks to ensure that they were bringing us the right person."

"I'm sure, Peterson," Max replied, not breaking his watch of Laura. "That's Laura, or at the very least someone who looks like her. If it's a mimic they've done a very good job; discounting the encounter at Café Café I only saw Laura last night and she looks no different."

Max turned away from looking at Laura, instead focusing on the two other agents in the room. Peterson had a small notebook in his hand, writing down a few notes with a pen he'd brought in with him. How the man's hand wasn't falling off from all the writing he had done Max didn't know.

"To confirm, the police intercepted and brought in Laura Chen here for investigation an hour ago; however, you and agent Leeds are adamant that you saw Laura Chen at Café Café a full twenty minutes after her arrival at INTEC."

"That's right," Max said, growing a little weary at all of these events and questions constantly being lobbied at him. "I wasn't close enough to see if that Laura looked any different, but from the distance I did see her I am very certain that it was her."

"We'll get someone to talk to Café Café, see if they have any kind of surveillance footage we can use," Peterson said, largely to himself. He scribbled yet more notes in to his notebook before finally flipping it closed and placing it and his pen on the small table in the room. "All right, off-the-record speculation time. Steel, you reckon we're dealing with a mimic here?"

"Yes, sir. It's the only explanation I can think of that even makes a little sense." Max paused, gathering his thoughts before continuing, aware of the intense attention both Peterson and Murtaugh were giving him. "It's possible that someone new to Del Oro, a new student or someone moving here for word could possibly look like Laura. But given that they look identical - wearing the same clothes, having their hair in the same style - says to me that someone set out to deliberately copy her."

Peterson made a noise of agreement, folding his arms across his chest. "Thanks. All right, Steel, you can go," he said. He watched as Max headed out of the observation room, mentally ticking off the seconds after the door had closed. He waited until he was sure a normal person would be out of earshot, then waited half as long again before he turned to Murtaugh.

"So what does this tell you, Murtaugh?"

"I-it tells me that this situation is a lot more complex than we thought," Murtaugh said nervously.

"You got that right. If Steel is correct that means we still need to look out for the other Laura. Do we have the, for lack of a better term, original in here, or do we have the copy? If we alert the police to continue searching for Laura, we should be able to find the other one without too many problems.

"That'll be the easy part, unfortunately. The hard part would be getting the other Laura in here, ensuring that neither of them encounter each other, and try and discern which is which. Considering how well Max knows Laura, we're going to need his help to see if we can find out that information."

"It's not going to be easy," Murtaugh said with a resigned sigh. "I'll inform the police about the situation."

[ - ]

"What's the news?" Max said as he, Rachel, and a scattering of other agents rushed in to a small meeting room. Berto was already present, sitting in a chair near the entrance to the room, him having been the person Max was directing the question to. "Why'd you call me?"

"I asked him to," Mairot said, drawing the attention towards him instead. Mairot allowed a few moments for the other agents to sit down before he continued. "About five minutes ago Kat's pager activated and Doctor Martinez was able to pinpoint her location." The screen behind Mairot changed from being blank to showing a satellite image of some mountains. "Her tracer location has been pinpointed to Mount Corinth."

"Can't be," Max said, drawing everyone's attention to him. He looks past Mairot and at the map behind him, scrutinizing the details shown. "If Kat was on Mount Corinth, why doesn't she just climb down and hitchhike back to INTEC? It's not that strenuous a task."

"A tracer being activated is no guarantee of her physical state," Mairot said, turning his attention away from Max and towards the other agents in the room. "I will be readying a team momentarily to search for Kat. Doctor Martinez will be scanning with the Sabre satellite and if he finds anything he will be reporting it directly to me. Once we have more details, I will let you know."

Max had only been half-listening, instead continuing to look at the map behind Mairot. He'd only been up on Mount Corinth earlier that day, and if Kat had been there as well then surely he should have noticed something there. He frowned, studying the map one more time before standing up.

"Max?" Rachel said, but Max didn't hear her, didn't notice that everyone in the room, including Mairot, was looking at him. Instead, he dashed out of the room. "Max, get back here now!"

Rachel followed him out of the room, only getting a few steps down the corridor before she gave up. She turned back around, muttering things to herself, and sat back down in her chair, ignoring some of the strange looks she was getting.

"Where do we progress from here?" she asked Mairot, trying to get the meeting back on track.

[ - ]

After a quick detour to the tech lab to grab a handheld scanner and drive across Del Oro, twenty minutes later Max was standing on the top of Mount Corinth, waving the scanner around in a vain attempt to pick up Kat's signal. He'd climbed up the mountain using the path he'd traversed earlier in the day, and like with back then Berto was back on the bio-link, having contacted Max when he was halfway across town.

"I'm not seeing anything, bro. Are you sure she's still here?"

"Positive. Her signal readings are still coming from the mountain," Berto said, glancing over at Rachel. She was leaning slightly over Berto's chair, mouth set in a grim line, but she wasn't saying anything, _Hadn't_ said anything since Mairot had ordered Berto back into the Ops room to both continue searching for Kat and also to keep in contact with Max. Unrequested, Rachel had followed him to the Ops room and stayed there, silently watching Max's progress, anger and annoyance bubbling beneath the surface.

"Head a little forwards and to your right, about thirty degrees," Berto said, glancing down at one of the smaller screens. A green dot showed Max's current location, a blue one where Kat's tracer's signal was coming from. As he watched, Max's dot inched over and, within a couple of minutes, was almost on top of Kat's. "You should be in visual contact now."

"Well I'm not seeing anything," Max said. "Unless you count rocks as something we're trying to find because there's a ton of those around." Max paused, enhancing his vision and scanning the ground. Rock, rocks, more rocks, a tiny bit of sand.

"Definitely nothing," Max said, switching his vision back to normal. "Not even a discarded watch or piece of jewellery around." Another pause. "What's Kat's tracer in?"

"A watch," Berto said simply.

"No sign of anything like that." Max sighed. "This is hopeless. What am I accomplishing by being up here?"

Berto held his tongue. This wasn't something Max had been ordered to do, and while Berto knew that he was just venting frustration it was hard not to comment on that fact.

Max continued to scan the surrounding area still finding nothing. He stopped, backtracked, and began scanning again in another direction, to no avail.

"Are you sure these things are working? What's to say they're not picking up an errant signal from somewhere?"

"If the handheld scanners malfunctioning, so are the main INTEC ones."

"Great," Max muttered. He not-so-gently tossed the scanner aside, hearing it clatter against the rocks but thought nothing of it. Broken, right? "Where's her signal?"

"Still just to your right."

Max turned to his right, flexing his neck before moving forwards, vision enhanced once more. He took one step, followed by another, still with his head down and scanning the ground beneath him. Another step forward...

And he disappeared.

[ - ]

Berto was frantically talking to himself in Spanish, accidentally locking Rachel out of understanding whatever he was saying. Well, mostly; she caught the odd swear word as she watched him work, but that gave her as good an indication as to what was going on as the blank screen in front of her.

The main screen was completely blank, showing no information whatsoever; the smaller screens which Berto had been using to records Max's vitals, as well as track where Kat's signal was coming from, were all still functioning, ruling out a computer crash or the like.

With another muttered sentence in Spanish, Berto slid under the desk and pulled a couple of panels off, tossing them to the side. He grumbled to himself, checking the cables and connections just to make sure there was nothing _there_ which had malfunctioned. Finding nothing amiss, he stood back up, gently brushing the panels back under the desk, and turned to look at Rachel.

"Main screen isn't recording any visual, yet all his vitals are still recording as normal. Tracer still shows him on top of Mount Corinth, but -" Berto switched the image on the main screen to that of what Sabre was showing, "Satellite imaging shows nothing there at all."

Rachel frowned, looking at and parsing the information for a few moments. "I'll get Mairot," she said and, without waiting for a response, turned and headed out of the ops room, leaving Berto alone. Left to his own devices, Berto relaxed a little, taking his glasses off and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He replaced his glasses, turning back and looking at the console.

There was one last option he had with him - if there was something wrong with the console but not easily recognisable as a loose cable would be, he could reboot the system and run diagnostics to see if there was anything in the system which was faulty.

It would take time, but currently that was the only option he had.

_Aquí va nada,_ Berto thought to himself.

[ - ]

When he woke up, Max noticed three things:

One, he was lying on a cold, stone floor.

Two, his head was aching.

Three, his arm was spasming.

As he grew more conscious of his body and surroundings, he realised a fourth thing: he was running low on transphasic energy. Not low enough that his bio-link would start beeping him to remind him that he needed a recharge, now, but certainly low enough to make him feel groggy and disoriented, almost like the one time he and Pete had decided it would be 'fun' to raid his father's alcohol cabinet and ended up with a severe hangover.

He was at a loss to try and explain why he was low on energy - he hadn't done anything which necessitated any kind of severe energy drain; even being in 'Max mode' for a week wouldn't drain him as much as his bio-link was reporting.

With a low groan, Max closed his eyes. _Please let this be a bad dream. A really bad, really _realistic _dream._

"Nice nap, Steel?" Max heard someone say sarcastically, having evidently just heard Max's groan. He stifled a second, pushing himself up to a sitting position, hissing slightly as his ribs protested at the movement.

"Kat, great, just what I need."

"And sarcasm coming from a cheery teen is just what _I_ need!"

"At least I'll have someone to talk to," Max muttered to himself, pulling himself onto the bed (with another slight hiss as his ribs protested again; just what had happened?) and looking around at his surroundings. Off-white walls on three sides of the room, metal bars on the fourth. Beyond those metal bars, a continuation of the off-white wall and nothing of note anywhere.

"What happened?" he asked, rubbing his head in an attempt to ease the pain there.

"Gee, I don't know, it's a little hard to find out what's going on when you're locked in an eight-by-eight cell." Max heard a small growl of frustration, but Kat continued on. "Couple of guards carried you down here and tossed you in to the cell. They muttered something about a security breach before they left, but that was it."

"Security breach?"

"Boy, they must _really_ have done some serious damage. Yes, a security breach."

"Berto's got to know I'm here, right? He was tracking me, helping me to try and find you." Max wasn't sure if that was to reassure himself or Kat; he noticed that Berto had been unusually quiet since he had woken up. Max pressed a couple of buttons on his bio-link, trying to see if he could get some kind of access, but yelped in pain when a shot of feedback resonated directly inside his head. _Maybe there is something worse than bio-link feedback after all._

"The cells are comm-secured, probably the whole base. You think I didn't try phoning home first chance I got? From your yelp I should be glad I don't have it wired into my system." Despite the fact that Max couldn't see her, he knew she'd cracked a grin at that. "Enjoy your feedback?"

"Wonderful," Max muttered sarcastically. The feedback had done one job - his head was no longer hurting.

"Here's the run-down, Steel. Guards do a brief walk-by once an hour; cameras are pointed in at each of the individual cells." Max looked up and, sure enough, there was a camera on the opposite side of the room, pointing directly into his cell. "Guards are your regular mooks, people who look like they've only seen the inside of a well-stocked gym once and are likely to go down in a couple of hits. Only issue." Kat paused. "Is breaking down the bars."

"Are there any other people aside from the mooks?"

"Prisoners or guards?"

"Either."

"Not seen any other prisoners - if they're here in this place, they're somewhere else. Only one other noticeable person I've seen: a metal-faced mutant with blond hair and a cybernetic arm."

Whether it was because of him still feeling a little groggy or because of the shock of the feedback, it took Max a moment to identify just why that description sounded so familiar.

"Security breach from two months ago. The one who made me...me."

"That's..." Kat began, but quickly trailed off.

"That's what?"

"Nothing, Steel, just drop it. It's not important."

"You never mention anything unless it's important. What is it?"

Kat sighed. "I met him myself, about two years ago. I was responding to a simple hit and run, no big deal. Some kind of weapons depot but he escaped before he could grab anything. I chased him down but he got away. Didn't think of it much at the time."

"Did you report that to Mairot?"

"Nothing beyond the basics."

"_Kat_."

"Don't sweat it, Steel. I'll let him know when we get back to INTEC."

Max was dubious on that possibility, but said nothing. The two of them fell silent and, after a few minutes, Max heard someone walking down metal steps, the clanging sounds of shoes hitting metal an unmistakable - to him, anyway - sound.

"Sounds like a guard," Kat whispered.

A minute or so later a guard appeared in Max's field of view, carrying a small, sparking stick looking an awful lot like a Taser. He quickly checked on Kat's cell, diving out of Max's field of range for a bit before looking over at Max's cell. Seemingly satisfied that everything was gone, the guard turned around and began heading back up the stairs, the sound of shoes on metal growing fainter every second.

"Clock's ticking, Steel. One hour."

"I've got a pretty good idea that'll bring them running," Max said. He paused for a split-second to wonder what Kat's reaction would be, decided he didn't really care anyway, and activated his stealth function.

Not fifteen seconds after he'd done that, alarms started blaring all over the room where the cells where and, Max hoped, also across the whole base.

"Hope you got more than that to work with," Kat managed to yell over the sound of the sirens, and Max cracked a grin.

A group of guards pounded down the stairs, all of them swarming around Max's seemingly-empty cell. Some of them were armed with guns but the majority of them had the shock sticks the guard earlier was carrying. A couple broke off and glanced in Kat's, presumably to check that she was still there - satisfied that she was, they re-joined the group.

"It's empty; who was here last?" one of the guards closest to the cell spat, turning around to look at the others around him. None of the other people responded. "_Who_ was here _last_?" he repeated. A few seconds later the sirens cut out and Max breathed a very quiet sigh of relief. Super hearing and loud noises didn't go together at all.

"Richards, he was -" one of the guards began, but stopped as the supposed leader grabbed a seemingly-random person from the midst of the group and shoved him in front of the cell. Even with a quick glance Max could see that it was the same guard who had checked he and Kat were still in their cells.

"What happened?"

"I...it was just...he was here when I checked."

"Well _obviously_ he's not here anymore." The leader let go of Richards but before the second guard could react the leader grabbed the cell keys from his own belt. The leader walked towards the door of the cell and unlocked it, flinging the door open. The leader turned back to Richards, grabbing him roughly again and shoving him inside the cell.

"Check he's not hiding," the leader said, slamming the cell door shut. Unknown to everyone else, Max had crept towards the cell door and had slipped out in the small amount of time it was open and was now standing and watching the proceedings from the other side of the cells. He'd squeezed through the sea of guards, finding a nice empty spot to stand in.

Richards seemed to take his time searching the cell, but it was unclear to Max whether that was because he wanted to be seen as doing a thorough job or whether he wanted to avoid facing the wrath of the leader for as long as he could. Richards looked up at the ceiling, earning a snort of derision from one of the assembled guards, before kneeling down and checking under the bed. After a few more minutes of searching, Richards returned to the front of the cell.

"It's empty."

The leader snorted in annoyance but still opened the cell door, letting Richards out. "Notify command we've got an escaped prisoner," the leader said before turning to leave. The rest of the guards followed, leaving Richards there.

Richard grabbed a walkie-talkie from his belt. "Richards. We have an escaped prisoner on C7. Brown hair, blue eyes, Caucasian." He stood around for another moment, peering back in to Max's cell as if he wasn't quite sure if Max had somehow escaped, before shrugging his shoulders and heading up the stairs like with all the other guards.

Max waited, still in stealth mode, until he could no longer make out the heartbeats of the guards, reasoning that it would take them almost as long to head back as it had taken them to leave. Once satisfied that they were far enough away, he walked over to Kat's cell. To his surprise, Kat was laying on the bed, eyes closed.

"You're an idiot," she commented without even bothering to open her eyes, let alone look over at Max.

"'Thanks, Max, for getting me out of the cell.' A little appreciation would be nice, you know."

"You'll get appreciation when you've earned it. So far, all I've seen you do is act reckless."

"And how is that any different from some of the stunts you pull?"

Kat finally opened her eyes, turning to look at him. "I have some plan behind my stunts. You seem to be doing things just because you can. Speaking of, how were you planning on getting me out of here?"

"I was thinking of just tearing the door off," Max said, dropping stealth almost as soon as he was finished speaking. Replacing it, a green-yellow glow spread across his body quickly before disappearing a moment later.

"Steel, don't you -" Kat began but didn't get too far before her protest was cut off by the sound of the cell door being ripped off and, seconds later, the alarms blaring once again.

"We need to check for other cells," Max commented as he turned off turbo. "Come on, let's go," he added, turning around and looking for the staircase the guards had been using. Slightly stunned at the actions Max had taken, she recovered after a couple of seconds and hurried after Max, catching up to him as he rounded a corner and found the staircase.

"Why do we need to check for other cells?"

"If you're here," Max said, beginning to run up the stairs. "Odds are so are Marie Keita and Jefferson Smith."

Kat ran up the stairs after him. "Had INTEC heard anything from Scott Diamon?"

"No."

"Then he's likely to be here, too."

The two of them dashed up the short staircase, reaching the top only to find themselves head to head with half a dozen guards, all armed with shock sticks. Max glanced at Kat, who simply smiled.

Without saying a word, Max ran to the right and Kat to the left, each picking out a first target amongst the guards. The first one Kat went up against went down within a couple of hits, but her second target was more tenacious. She grappled with him, dodging kicks he sent her way and retaliating with some of her own.

Without warning, he went limp and Kat dropping him, looking back to where he'd been standing to see Max standing there with a self-satisfied smile on his face.

"I had it covered," Kat said, glancing around to see that all of the guards were now lying on the floor, unconscious.

"Yeah, well, thanks to me they're all down for the count." Max flashed a cocky grin at her.

Kat ignored him, instead kneeling down and picking up a couple of the shock sticks. She kept hold of one in her hand, tucking the second, inactive one in to her belt.

"Do you have any idea where we need to go?" Max asked as the two of them began to make their way across the room.

"None."

She slid her eyes to the far left, twisting around a split-second later and jabbing the shock stick in to the chest of a guard who had been approaching her. Electricity surged through his body and he collapsed onto the ground, but by the time he had done so Kat had already turned around and continued to make her way through the room.

"Guess we just run around causing as much chaos as possible," she added as Max caught up to her.

"Sounds like my kind of plan."

The two of them cautiously but quickly made their way across the room, spotting no more staircases nearby but knowing that there had to be some way out, somewhere. They reached a door on the opposite side of the room, Kat grabbing the handle and yanking it open. Max stepped through first and Kat let the door swing closed behind them.

They managed two steps in to the new room before what seemed like an armed legion of guards descended on them, pouring in from almost all available doorways. All of them were armed with at least one weapon; again, the majority carrying shock sticks, some with guns, and a scattered few with a mixture of both.

Sliding to a halt, Kat mirrored Max's earlier grin and looked over at him. "Ready for a game, Steel?"

"Huh, game? Kat, this isn't the _time_ to play games," Max said, partly in confusion and partly in exasperation.

"There's always time for games."

Kat drew the second shock stick from her belt, activating it, and leapt at one of the nearest guards. She shoved the shock stick into his stomach, watching the electricity course from the weapon to his body. After a few seconds she withdrew the shock stick, watching casually as the guard collapsed to the ground.

That action seemed to trigger the others into action - those with shock sticks moved to grab and activate them, surging forwards to the two agents. Kat kept her two shock sticks activated, alternating between using them to shock the guards or using them as makeshift swords, parrying and blocking attempted attacks.

Max had recovered by the time Kat was attacking the first guard, and he was going fist-to-fist with one of the guards. This one had a gun but for some reason didn't even try using it on Max, instead choosing to join Max in hand-to-hand combat. It wasn't long before Max got a lucky hit in, knocking the guard he was battling out and moving on to the next one.

However, due to the sheer number of guards there, all too soon Max and Kat were swarmed and forced to fight back to back. In the narrower fighting area, Kat had jammed one of the shock sticks back in to her belt, keeping the other in her hand ready if necessary, and the two of them were punching, kicking, and shocking away all challengers.

"Five three to me, Steel," Kat commented as she knocked out another guard with a well-placed punch. At that, Max realised what kind of 'game' she had been talking about: see how many guards they can take down each.

Max spotted movement out of the corner of his eye, turning around and knocking the guard out with one punch.

"Five-_four_ to me now, I assume?"

"Correct."

Slowly but surely the number of guards lying unconscious at their feet began to grow, making it harder and harder for the rest of them to reach Max and Kat. With the slight respite, Max managed to glance around at their surroundings a bit more. Like the previous room, and also where the cells had been, the walls were off-white with no distinguishing features. Max counted off five doors, all of which he'd seen guards surging through when they entered, but as he looked around more he spotted a sixth, not-yet-used door.

"Door to your left," Max said quietly to Kat. She quickly glanced over at the indicated door, returning her gaze to the guards after a few seconds. Those seconds had been all the time she needed to get a good look at it though: heavy-looking door with a just-visible-to-her keypad on it. Despite those security measures, no guards were around it.

"Guess recapturing us is more important than guarding whatever's in that door," Kat said back.

"That or they think their security measures are good enough anyway."

They spent a few more moments battling the guards, adding to the ever-increasing pile of bodies at their feet. Kat had re-drawn her second shock stick, keeping it inactivated and using it more as a melee weapon now.

"I got this," she whispered after decking yet another guard. "You make a break for it, see what's behind that door." Max hesitated, shooting Kat a quick look. "You've got more chance of getting over there uninterrupted. Dash over, rip open the door, see what's there, dash back."

"Before I go, I've got to ask: when they brought you here they must have frisked you, so...where did you hide your tracker?"

Kat zapped another guard before she answered. "Do you really want to know the answer to that question?"

It was Max's turn to pause. "No, no I don't."

Max began to edge slightly away from Kat as she switched from a fighting stance to a normal one. She held her activated shock stick at her side, daring the guards to try and approach her.

"So then, what are you waiting for?" she said over her shoulder. He looked over his and gave her a quick grin before he activated turbo and dashed off. His speed pushed him past the circle of guards (both conscious and unconscious) and across the room before the guards had time to recover from realising what was going on.

Max grabbed the door handle, pulling and tearing and ripping the door off its hinges with an horrific cracking sound. With one last look back at Kat to check she was doing okay (which she was) he dashed through the doorframe and headed inside.

The only thing inside the room was a flight of stairs leading down; glancing up, he saw another flight above him. He paused, throwing another glance back at Kat. She knocked out another guard before seeing Max looking over at her apprehensively. She narrowed her eyes, pointing towards the door and mouthing something he was sure was a less polite way of saying 'go and investigate'. Max turned back just as another guard rushed towards Kat and he headed down the stairs quickly, turning off turbo, trusting that she'd be able to take care of herself.

He heard no breathing or heartbeats as he made his way down, and as soon as he hit the lowest level he saw why. The whole area was nothing but somewhere for a long staircase which, he expected, ran from the lowest floor to the highest and - hopefully - a way out somewhere. If that was the case, then they had their exit; all they needed was to find if Keita, Smith, and Diamon were in the building as well.

Max quickly retraced his steps, emerging to see Kat still battling some of the guards. There were a lot less than there had been when he had initially left, and as he approached Kat knocked another one out. Some of the ones she and Max had knocked out early in the battle looked to be regaining consciousness, but none seemed to be in any condition to fight, at least no any time soon.

Kat's current battle had left the guard's back to Max and he smiled. Max approached the guard, lightly tapping him on his shoulder, waiting until the guard turned around.

"Mind if I cut in?" Max said before throwing a knock-out punch, dropping the guard to the ground. That was the last of the battle-ready conscious ones, and Max quickly glanced around to check no more were heading their way. "So, who won?"

"That should be obvious, Steel," Kat said, wiping some blood away from her lip. "Winner was the one that _didn't_ go and see what was behind door number one."

"On _your_ recommendation."

"So, what did you find?"

"A stairwell. Looks like it might lead all the way to the top, or at least some kind of exit."

Kat looked at Max incredulously. "That's it?"

"That's it. Smith, Keita, and Diamon have got to be here somewhere."

"Well then," Kat said, flashing a grin. "What're we waiting for? I'm itching to pummel more guards." Kat turned on her heel, making her way to the nearest unexplored door. Max quickly caught up to her and the two closed the distance to the door.

"It might be quicker if we split up," Kat said, but Max shook his head.

"A quicker way to be sent back to the cells I'd say."

They reached the door, Max moving to go back in to turbo, but Kat drew something out of her pocket, making Max pause. He looked at it a bit closer, seeing that it was a key card.

"Where did you get that?"

"Slipped it from one of the guards while they were unconscious. Might not work but it's worth a try."

"Yeah," Max said, glancing down at his bio-link. He was now starting to go in the red; in danger of running out if he wasn't careful. "Well then, after you."

[ - ]

After some time running through corridors, exploring interesting-looking rooms behind bland-looking doors and fighting yet more bunches of guards, Max and Kat finally found some more cells. They looked to be on the opposite side of the building to where they had been held, and as they'd made their way down the staircase Max had picked up three distinct breathing rates and heartbeats.

"Definitely occupied," Kat whispered as she glanced around the corner, seeing some people in the cells. She beckoned Max over to have a closer look; she backed off as he peered around the corner, using his enhanced vision to check who the occupants were.

"Smith, Keita, and Diamon," Max confirmed, but looked worried. Keita was lying on her cell bed, eyes closed; Jefferson looked abnormally pale, and Diamon was cradling his arm - broken, or at the very least injured.

Anger crossed Max's face, but before he could step out and do something rash, Kat had grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"There's likely to be an ambush. They know we've been running around, knocking the guards out, what's to say they haven't left this place unguarded to fool us?"

Max shrugged his arm out of Kat's grip. "I'll be careful."

Kat didn't respond to that, and Max stepped out from the corner where the stairs were, braced for sirens, guards rushing towards him, or anything.

Nothing happened.

No guards, no sirens, no ambush.

Before too long Max made it to the cells, choosing to stand in front of Jefferson's who was now looking up at him in surprise. A few seconds later, his confusion increased as Kat appeared next to Max, seemingly unhurt.

"Smith? We're here to get you out," Max said before turning to look at Kat. "You ready?"

Kat grinned. "Always."

Max returned her grin before powering up, grabbing the door of the cell and ripping it off. As before, within seconds sirens started blaring; by that time Max had ripped the door off Diamon's cell and was heading over to Keita's. Max ripped the door off Keita's cell, helping her out of the cell; he glanced over to see Kat helping Smith...in between furious glances and the odd snapped comment at Diamon.

"Time to get out of here."

[ - ]

The five of them managed to make it back to the main room, where Kat and Max had been ambushed by the large number of guards, without issue. On their way there they had been intercepted by a few stray guards but those had been easily dispatched, and despite their situation Max was feeling cautiously optimistic about their chances of getting out.

They headed towards the other side of the room, the damaged door in sight, but like the last time they were in the room they were quickly surrounded by a swarm of guards...and one metal-faced man.

Upon seeing him, Max froze for a moment but a jab in the ribs from Kat brought him out of his revere. As the guards and the metal-faced man approached them, Kat slid him a shock stick.

"You might need it," she whispered as he tucked it into his belt.

Max nodded in return. "Get everyone out of here, I'll deal with him."

"Gotcha. He still only counts as one."

"Of course." Max Stepped forwards as Kat whispered the plans to Smith, Keita, and Diamon. "Looking for me?" he called, drawing most of the attention to himself. A few of the guards, having seen Kat and the others try and make a break for the stairwell, broke off and aimed to intercept them.

"INTEC."

"That's us," Max said with a grin. He stepped forwards and threw a punch at Psycho, aiming to get him off balance. Psycho, however, quickly dodged the attack and countered with a kick to Max's chest, sending him staggering back a few steps. Slightly winded, Max knelt down and took a couple of seconds to get his breath back.

_Abnormally strong, like L'Etranger was._

Max risked a glance towards the stairwell, seeing no sign of Kat, Smith, Keita, or Diamon. What he did see was a small pile of unconscious bodies and he allowed himself a faint smile.

"So, what's the big boss paying you for?" Max called, still kneeling on the floor and turning his attention back to Psycho. "Reconstruction surgery or is he just placating you with polish?"

Psycho said nothing. Instead, he took a few steps towards Max, metal face grimacing menacingly. Max counted off the steps, waiting until Psycho was close enough to reach, and pulled out and activated the shock stick Kat had given him. He thrust forward, jabbing the device in Psycho's arm before getting to his feet and dashing past the man.

The shock stick stuck in Psycho's arm, sparks flying everywhere and the arm fell to Psycho's side. Ignoring the damage, Psycho began to run after Max but after a few steps he paused to pull out the shock stick. He threw it to the ground in frustration before picking up the pace, catching up to Max.

Max was almost at the stairwell when Psycho caught up to him. Having heard Psycho approach, Max spun around and delivered a spinning kick. The attack missed by millimetres and as Max faced Psycho the two began trading blows.

With Psycho's metallic arm out of action, or at the very least needing some intensive repair, the two were more evenly matched. With only one functioning arm Psycho couldn't block as many of Max's attacks, but the attacks he aimed at Max were still just as powerful.

Max risked a glance at his bio-link - he was beginning to get well into the danger zone. He pulled back and aimed a fierce punch at Psycho's face which, luckily, connected and sent Psycho staggering back a step. Max paused for a breather before activating turbo, following up that first punch with a second, even more powerful one.

After the attack hit, Psycho wavered for a second before passing out, collapsing on the floor of the room.

"See ya...Smiley," Max said, wincing and doubling over as the strain of that attack caught up with him. He managed to turn off turbo and began to dash towards the stairwell, picking up a shock stick from a fallen guard as he went. He saw a 'low energy' warning flashing on the stick but ignored it, hoping that having a weapon was enough of a deterrent. He quickly battled his way past a few stray guards, absently noting that most of those that had been there had disappeared, and also that none of them had intervened or interfered in the fight between him and the metal-faced man.

He hit the stairs, taking two at a time, this time noticing every breath he was taking, every step, the battle against gravity. He ignored his bio-link when it started beeping at him, warning that he was definitely now in the danger zone energy-wise.

Fortunately, Max's dash up the stairs was enemy free and before too long he burst through the door at the top of the stairwell, finding himself in almost blinding sunlight, the probes compensating and adjusting for the sudden change in light after a few seconds. Once done, he was able to glance around - he was back on top of Mount Corinth, although in a section he'd never thought to venture over to. There was no one else around, and he just hoped that Kat had managed to get everyone out and down to safety somehow.

The bio-link crackled to life, and Max smiled.

"Max! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, bro. Just a little strenuous work-out."

"I can see that. We're going to need to get you in the generator room when you get back."

"Is that going to be before or after my debriefing?"

"After."

Max began to make his way across the top of Mount Corinth, pausing and catching his breath after a few steps. "Have you heard anything from Kat? She should have made her way up here before I did."

"I saw her ten minutes ago," Berto said, accompanied by the clack of keys. "Smith and Keita are making their way back to INTEC via _Hawk_ while Kat and Diamon opted to make their own way back."

"What's the turn-around time on _Hawk_?" Max asked, not overly relishing making his way down Mount Corinth in his current condition. The clack of keys continued, and after Berto didn't answer for a few seconds Max assumed the answer was 'long enough'.

"It'll be twenty minutes for _Hawk_ to land, turn around, and make its way to your current position."

"Guess I'm heading back the old-fashioned way," Max said, starting to walk across Mount Corinth once again. "How are Smith and Keita?"

"They're both fine," Berto said as Max began to walk along the steep path down the mountain, "but Smith will be returning to Saint Jude's hospital once we've determined that there's no unforeseen damage. He'll be there with double the guards this time. Keita's going to be finishing up her tour of Del Oro before flying back tomorrow.

"I also have an update on Laura; the one we had in the interview room has maintained that she's been holed up in her dorm room with a cold and hasn't had the energy to go anywhere, let alone the motivation, and she is sticking to that story. CCTV from Café Café shows that there was someone who bore a strong resemblance to Laura there, but we haven't managed to locate her. We let Laura go about an hour ago."

After that, Berto fell silence and Max continued the journey down on his own. After about ten minutes he spotted the familiar dyed hair of Kat and also who he assumed to be Diamon, and jogged to catch up to the two of them.

"Hey, Ryan, Diamon, wait up!"

Diamon paused and looked around to see Max heading towards them, but Kat didn't bother. Instead, she continued on walking, throwing a comment over her shoulder.

"Took you long enough, Steel."

Max nodded a greeting to Diamon before grinning and throwing an arm across Kat's shoulders once he caught up with her. She simply shrugged out of it with an eye-roll and continued walking on.

"So, how many mooks did you take out in the end?"

"Three, plus the metal-faced guy."

"Huh." Kat did some quick mental arithmetic. "So that makes the final tally nineteen to me, sixteen to you. Huh, would you look at that? Looks like I win."

"Win? Win what?" Diamon asked, looking confused.

Kat laughed. "Just a little friendly competition between myself and Steel here, nothing for you to worry about."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Max muttered to himself as the three of them finally hit the road that ran past Mount Corinth. Glancing in the distance, he could see the N-Tek building, but it was quite a distance to make on foot. "Either of you know how to hitchhike?"

[ - ]

"I have the information you were requesting regarding the Caine virus. If you are interested in acquiring the virus, you will need to contact a man by the name of Tristan Stewart. Further information will be given to you...with the right price."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven:

August had given way to September, the temperatures staying mostly the same. The new semester started without much fuss or hassle for the returning students, although some of the new students had needed the past couple of weeks to properly set up in to a routine; whether that was study-attend class-do work or drink-party-sleep depended on the individuals themselves.

For Josh, the new semester brought with it yet another promise to himself: get back and working out using the sports facilities at Del Oro U, although compared to only three months ago the exercise routines he had planned out were laughably easy.

Josh stood on the side lines of the finish line of the track, watching as numerous individuals jogged around the track. Some of them had people waiting on the side lines for them, calling out encouragement, while others were just running on their own, using their own mental encouragement to get them to continue running.

"C'mon, Pete!" Josh called out halfway across the track, seeing the familiar shape of his friend come in to view once more. Pete was struggling, taking erratic strides and breathing heavily (even the person next to Josh would have been able to discern that). Pete glances over at where Josh was standing, giving him a quick thumbs up before continuing to run, pushing himself to speed up at least a little bit more.

Josh tracked him as he completed the last half-lap of the track, watching as Pete crossed the finish line and pressed a button on the stopwatch clipped to his shorts. Pete paused for a second, catching his breath, before making sure no one else was approaching and heading off the track towards Josh.

"Jeez, McGrath, how quickly did you complete that?" Pete wheezed. "You powered through that."

"Uh," Josh paused, checking the time on his stop-watch. "Half-mile ran in three minutes, thirty-two seconds."

Pete wheezed again, grabbing his stopwatch and looking at the time etched on the screen. "Six minutes," Pete said, looking back up at Josh. "Look at you - you like you're ready to run that all over again. You've barely even broken a sweat."

Josh shrugged. "You're just unfit, Costas. Couple more months of training and you'll be catching up to my time."

Pete chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he did so. "Couple of months? I don't think I'd survive another week like this."

Josh smiled. "It's not too bad once you're used to it. Come on, one more lap and then we'll get lunch."

Pete looked up at Josh. "What's in it for me if I agree?"

"I'm paying."

That was enough to encourage Pete to agree to one more lap of the track; the two of them quickly returned to position on the track, taking off at a steady jog, Josh match's Pete's rather unusually slow pace.

"So, DOX is coming up in a couple of weeks. You still entering the amateur competitions?"

Josh hesitated before answering. "I've pulled out."

"Really? You've been waiting _forever_ to be old enough to compete. The only reason you didn't enter last year was because you had a broken arm. From the first day of last year's DOX you were counting down to the start of this one; what gives?"

"I've been busy. Between work and school I haven't had the time to train up properly."

Pete snorted. "Says the guy who just ran a half mile in three and a half minutes."

"Work's been really hectic," Josh continued, choosing to ignore Pete's comment. "School's not been much better either; Guerard seems to have it in for me this semester."

"I told you not to take any more of his classes."

"I need to. I'm volunteering for the DOX this year, Laura too. Maybe I'll compete next year instead."

[ - ]

As was pretty much typical for every day the campus was open, the cafeteria was packed. Nearly every table was occupied and even people sitting on their own weren't immune; Josh had glanced over to see a woman approach a man at a two-seater table and say something. The man simply shrugged and the woman sat down, piling her food from the tray to the table, while the man moved a few of his things to make some extra space.

"Your usual, Pete?" Josh asked as the two of them hit the end of the queue, almost but not quite stretching out of the doors of the building. Given another twenty minutes, though, and Josh was certain the queue would seem like it was halfway across campus.

"Yeah."

Josh glanced around, spotting a couple of empty two-seater tables. "You go and grab us a table, I'll get the food."

"Can do, McGrath," Pete said, walking out of the queue and heading deep in to the chaos of people trying to find a table. He spotted an empty table - recently vacated by the looks of the assorted napkins and empty drinks carton scattered across it - and immediately made a beeline for it, dodging past a few other people heading in the opposite direction.

He got within touching distance of the table before someone bumped in to him from the left. Pete quickly turned around to see a woman standing next to him, brown hair and brown eyes, one hand precariously balancing a tray and the other holding on to a drink.

"I'm sorry; are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," the woman said, letting go of her drink and changing to carry her tray with both hands. "Were you heading to the table?"

"I was; my friend went off to get food."

"Oh." The woman's face fell and she began to turn around, scanning the room for another empty table.

"But," Pete said, a smile on his face. "I think there might be room for a third person, if you don't mind joining us."

"That'd be nice." The two of them sat at the table, Pete clearing a bit of space for Josh. "I'm Sylvia Swift," the woman introduced herself.

"Pete Costas. So, Sylvia, what're you doing in Del Oro?"

"I'm studying. Haven't made it too far outside of campus yet, though. Been too busy with classes and the like."

Pete and Sylvia continued chatting for good few minutes, alternating with Sylvia taking a few bites of her lunch - a vegetable wrap and side salad - and before too long Josh was heading over to them, a tray packed with food.

"Hey, Costas, make some room will you?" Josh said, and Pete looked up, a little shocked. He shuffled his chair over; Josh placed the tray down on the table and asked a nearby table if he could have their unoccupied chair.

"That was quick," Pete said after Josh had sat down. He made a grab for his food from the tray.

Josh simply looked at him. "I was gone for at least five minutes."

"Oh."

Josh and Pete cleared off their food from the tray, a burger going towards Pete and a pizza in front of Josh, Josh placing the now-empty tray on top of Sylvia's and turned to the woman.

"I'm Josh, although I suspect Pete hasn't said anything unless it relates to himself." Josh looked over at Pete who simply grinned and gave a half-hearted shrug back.

"Sylvia. Pete's been telling me about Del Oro; it sounds like a really fascinating place." Sylvia took another bite of her lunch, and both Josh and Pete made a start on theirs. "I've only been here a few weeks, just started college last month. I'm new to Del Oro itself, too - my parents wanted me to stay close to home but Del Oro was too appealing to miss out on, you know? Plus, one of the best agriculture programs on the west coast, how could I say no?"

Josh smiled. "Interesting to see what out of towners think. Both Pete and me are local; we've lived here all our lives."

"Seriously? That's great! You can help show me around then; I'm sure there's loads of interesting things around. Of course, I am also insanely jealous - I dreamed of being able to grow up and live in a place like this."

"Nothing says you can't stay after graduation," Pete commented, and judging from the look Josh saw in his eyes it was intended as more than just a passing remark.

"Oh, I don't know. I'd love to stay here but what would my parents say?" Sylvia paused, looking down at her food. "Well, I've got four years to get my degree, right?" she added, looking back up. "I should have made a decision by then, gives me plenty of time."

"You'd think," Josh said. "But before you know it you're taking exams, then heading in to your sophomore year, junior, senior, then you've graduated, wondered where all the time's gone and you still haven't made a decision."

"Perhaps," Sylvia said, looking a bit disheartened. "Still, four years?" she added hopefully.

"Yeah," Josh said, not completely convinced.

"So," Pete said, taking over the conversation. "Where are you from?"

"Oregon. Eugene, Oregon, to be specific. Like I said, my parents wanted me to stay local and attend the college there but I decided to come here. So, now that I've got two excellent tour guides," she flashed a smile at Josh, "what's there to do in Del Oro?"

"Plenty," Pete said with a grin of his own. "Depends what you're into. We've got great surfing conditions, good places to do mountain climbing; if you're into sports in general there's the sports park, although considering the DOX is starting in a couple of weeks you'll either want to get there quick or wait until the event is over."

"DOX?"

Pete gave her a quick run-down of the event, Josh tuning him out and instead concentrating on finishing his lunch. Josh idly noticed that the subject switched from sports to food, Pete getting out a notebook and making a crude sketch of Del Oro, pointing out notable places to visit to her. He debated joining in and offering his own perspective but decided against it.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sylvia said, checking a message on her phone. "I was supposed to meet some of my friends like ten minutes ago." She hurriedly grabbed her stuff, shoving it all into her bag. She paused for a second, grabbing the page Pete had been drawing on and stuffing it into her bag as well. Leaning over the table, she grabbed the pen as well and quickly scribbled something on to the page. She dashed off without a goodbye, and Josh leaned over to see what she'd written.

"A phone number?" Josh said a little incredulously. "Wow, a girl who's chasing _you_. Is the world coming to an end?"

[ - ]

After lunch, Pete had headed off to the library to study; at least, that was what he had said although Knowing Pete and his study habits, Josh doubted that much studying would actually take place. That naturally left Josh alone, and with the rest of the afternoon free and without classes left Josh wondering what he'd do with his time.

He headed out of the cafeteria and into the outside world, glancing up at the sky quickly. Decent cloud cover, steady but mild breeze...maybe it was a good opportunity to do some surfing. He wasn't about to let this semi-decent weather pass him by; it had been quite a while since he had dragged his board out and gone surfing.

He was, however, far from the only one who had had that idea; as he drove down the main street which ran parallel with the ocean line he spotted dozens upon dozens of people either relaxing on the beach or in the ocean. Fortunately, as he drove further south and started to enter Wipeout, the number of people began to drastically reduce, and almost by the time he had reached his house there were barely less than a few dozen people within sight, all of them generously spaced out. Some of them he recognised as neighbouring residents, while the majority were strangers to him; some of them looked to be about Josh's age or a little younger, and he wondered if they actually had the afternoon off or were simply skiving off school - Del Oro had a strong problem with truancy, people opting to surf or rock climb instead of attend class.

Josh pulled into his driveway and went in to his house; fifteen minutes later he was in a wetsuit and out in the ocean, lying on a surfboard. There was no one anywhere near him and, with little else to bother him, he began to relax.

"Hey, McGrath!"

Or he would have done if he hadn't looked up and seen Kat making her way over to him, pulling a surfboard along behind her. He waited until she was within earshot before replying to her shouted greeting.

"I thought you had work today."

Kat smirked. "I did." She quickly glanced over her shoulder, making sure a rogue wave wasn't going to come and wipe them out any time soon.

"How come you're here?"

"Managed to get Tavloridez to cover for me," Kat said, coming to a halt next to Josh. She dragged the surfboard in front of her and rested her arms on it. "Only an after-action report, nothing serious. You know, 'this happened, that happened, someone got injured, bad guy got caught, everything sorted out, the end'."

"I hope you don't actually write your after-action reports like that. How'd you manage to get Tavloridez to do your report?"

"Simple; I just said I'd do the next one when we're partnered together. 'Course, if the big boss is smart I won't be working with her again, _ever_."

"I don't want to know, do I?" Josh said, an undercurrent of 'what did you do' lingering in his question.

"Hey, _I_ didn't screw up," Kat said defensively. "New agents always think they know best, and when it blows up in their face, who do they blame? Not themselves, that's for sure."

Josh smirked. "Really. Do you think that I think I know best?"

"Hell yeah," Kat said without hesitation. "But at least you can brute force your way through most issues."

Josh wasn't quite sure whether to take that as a compliment or not, and so stayed silent while Kat continued.

"Tavloridez? She's better off staying in the office instead of heading out on missions and screwing them up. We were _this close_ to catching the guy if she hadn't been there; instead, she ruined the whole thing, let him go, and has the gall to blame _me_ for her screw-up."

"Really."

"_Really_." Kat glanced behind her. "Wave heading our way. What do you say to a little friendly competition?"

"Best out of three?"

"Pff, try fifteen. I need a good excuse not to head back to INTEC for a long while."

"You're on, Ryan."

"Try not to lose too badly, McGrath."

The two of them spent a good portion of time riding the waves, each registering a couple of wipe-outs, but unfortunately before too long the waves died down before their agreed number. That left them tied at five each, but neither seemed to be too disappointed in that fact.

"Doesn't look like there's going to be any more decent waves soon," Josh said after he quickly scanned the horizon. "It's been fifteen minutes and no sign of anything more fierce than a couple of inches."

"Shame, I was looking forward to continuing to pummel you," Kat said with a smirk. The two of the turned around and began to slowly paddle back to the shore, noticing a few other people heading in the same direction. As they had been running their little competition people had begun to head back to the regular lives, leaving very few people behind; with the number of people heading to shore now, that number left dwindled to almost nothing.

Josh and Kat pulled up to the shore, both picking up their surfboards and beginning to make their way across the beach.

"You heading back to work?"

"Guess I'd better make an effort and show up. Need to head back to my place to clean up first; I don't think your dad would be very happy if I dragged in sea and sand across the building." She ran a hand through her hair. "Also better make sure Tavloridez has written that report correctly otherwise I'll _have_ to write it myself. I don't exactly want to be stuck in INTEC until nine tonight." She grimaced before turning to look at Josh. "You got any special plans?"

"Just relaxing," Josh said moments before the two hit an intersection, one path continuing to head across the beach, the other heading up to the various beach houses.

"See ya," Kat said, continuing to head along the beach without waiting for a response from Josh. He watched her go for a few seconds before shrugging to himself and heading up towards his house.

[ - ]

Josh reached over and grabbed his cell phone, quickly muting the television before he answered without bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Hello?"

"Hi Josh," Laura said, and Josh stifled a groan. "How're you doing? I didn't see you on campus today."

"Everything's going fine," Josh commented, shifting into a slightly more comfortable position, dropping the television remote on the sofa. "Met an interesting woman at lunch, though."

"Oh? Who was that?"

"Sylvia, apparently a freshman at Del Oro U. I wouldn't worry though; she seemed a lot more interested in Pete." Josh gave Laura a quick run-down of what had happened, leaving her laughing.

"Poor Pete," she commented once she had stopped. "He's so used to being the one doing the chasing that he probably doesn't know what to do with himself."

"Probably."

"How did your training go this morning? I'm sorry I couldn't be there."

"It's fine. It went okay, actually, although I think Pete needs the training more than I do."

"Well, unfortunately you asked me to train you, not Pete." Laura fell silent for a bit, Josh hearing her moving some items around on the other end of the line. "Speaking of training, that's why I called. I wanted to check that you're still okay for some more training tomorrow."

"Uh, sure," Josh said instinctively. "You know, when I asked you to help train me I was honestly half-expecting you to have gotten bored of it by now, especially since the new semester started."

"I can almost always find time. When I can't, it's a good excuse to get Pete to do some exercise."

"That's true."

"So, I was thinking of meeting you at the track at 8AM tomorrow? Should be the perfect time for you to get in a three-mile run. You don't have any early morning classes, do you?"

"No; my first class isn't until ten."

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Bye."

Josh put his phone down and reached for the remote, unmuting the television. Normally the idea of a three-mile run would make him wince at the very least, especially when the most he had been doing recently was half-miles, but he had a strong suspicion that for him, the most difficult part of the training would be getting out of bed early enough to meet Laura at the agreed time.

[ - ]

Josh quickly checked his watch again - coming up to ten past eight. He'd been there for a good thirty minutes waiting on Laura, but she had yet to make an appearance. Despite the early time (for students, anyway), there were already a scattering of people on the track. After a few visits Josh had identified some of the main people there; all of them determined runners, making a plan at the start of the semester and sticking to it. There had been some new faces initially, but as time went on the majority of them had disappeared, leaving only a scattered few new people in amongst all of the old faces.

Josh looked back towards the entrance of the sports field, finally seeing Laura approaching. He waited where he was as she approached him, looking a little bit guilty.

"Sorry I'm late; I ran in to a friend in the dorms and stopped to chat for her a bit too long." Laura stopped by Josh, dropping her bag to the ground as she did so.

"Up early?" Josh asked, curious.

"Bed late; she was only just heading into the dorms to sleep. It had been a while since I'd seen her so we stopped in the hallway to see how things had been going."

"Well, if she's going to bed at eight in the morning, I think I might know why you've not seen her in a while."

Laura gave him a light, playful thwap on the arm. "So, what's your schedule for the day?"

"With or without class?"

"Without."

"I'm surprised you haven't already got it all memorised," Josh said with a smile. Josh paused to remember the schedule he'd arbitrarily drawn up for himself for that week. Random or not, he was at least attempting to stick by it. "Swimming after lunch, but aside from the run that's it. Three-mile run, break, lunch, swimming."

"Sounds reasonable. What was your time for your run with Pete yesterday?"

"About seven minutes for a mile; we only did a half-mile though."

Laura paused to think. "So shall we say anything under twenty-five minutes for three miles would be an achievement?"

"We can," Josh said. Twenty five minutes for three miles would be a piece of cake for him. Josh made his way to the start of the track, Laura calling out for him to start and pressing the button on her stopwatch at the same time. She had moved their bags closer to the start/finish line and was keeping a watch on them when she wasn't going to be busy checking on Josh's progress.

Josh set off at a steady pace, carefully calculating and calibrating how quickly he was running. He resisted the urge to go as fast as he felt like he could accomplish - too fast and he'd rush through the three miles in an abnormally fast time, but too slow would mean that he'd throw all of his times off track and also have Laura wondering if he was all right.

He'd passed by Laura for the fourth time, her still cheering and encouraging Josh as he passed, her calling out the time when he did so. He paid attention for the first couple of times but started to tune her out after the fourth time.

He hit the one mile mark, feeling nothing. No pain, no exhaustion, just simply the feeling that he could keep running indefinitely, or at least until his energy levels started to fall. There was nothing to indicate that he was doing anything more than a mild jog, or even a casual walk.

He grimaced as he passed Laura again, hoping she'd see it as an expression of determination rather than one of annoyance. He'd tested his limitations with Berto and other INTEC scientists over the past couple of weeks and the results had all been the same; why did he expect that out on a track things would be different? He knew that he'd set a pretty good time in the first few weeks of his accident, and if anything he'd been getting better since then.

"Just coming up on fifteen minutes for two miles!" Laura called out the next time he passed her; he barely acknowledged her, simply muttering to himself and pretending to start getting a little out of breath. He continued around the track, playing up the effects of becoming worn out, Laura continuing to encourage him as he went.

A few minutes later, Josh crossed the three-mile mark, doubling over slightly and elevating his breathing rate, pretending to be out of breath. After a few seconds he stood back up and walked over to where Laura was standing.

"How...did I do?" Josh asked.

Laura quickly checked the time on the stopwatch. "Three miles in twenty minutes and thirty-nine seconds. Not bad."

"No," Josh agreed, doing some quick mental calculations. "That puts me at about the same per-mile time as yesterday."

"Consistency is key," Laura said with a smile as she cleared the time off the screen. "How do you feel?"

"I feel pretty good, actually," Josh said. He wiped an arm over his face, trying to keep up the look of being exhausted, and moved to pick up his bag. "A little out of breath, but I think that's expected. I'm gonna head in for a shower; I'll meet you for lunch?"

"Sure." Laura quickly gathered up her own items, slinging her bag casually on to her back. The two headed back to the changing rooms, Laura splitting off when they were almost there and heading off for her first class of the day.

[ - ]

Josh was thankful he had a small break in between his morning class and lunch, doubly so when his pager went off while he was in the middle of the library. Ignoring a couple of looks he was getting from some of the other people there, he slid his pager out of his bag and looked at it.

"Huh," Josh said quietly to himself. It was a message from Berto, instructing him to head to INTEC as soon as possible. Josh tossed his pager back into his bag, pressing a couple of buttons on his bio-link, receiving a robotic voice in his head stating that all functions were normal.

_Wonder why Berto paged me,_ Josh thought to himself. Nevertheless, Josh gathered together his items and headed out of the library. He quickly checked the time, noting that he still had an hour before he had agreed to meet Laura for lunch.

Just enough time to get to INTEC, find out what was so important, and head back.

[ - ]

As soon as the doors to the ops room opened, Max stepped through, wondering just what kind of emergency or situation required his presence. As was fast becoming a typical scene, Berto was at the console fiddling with some kind of machinery, various wires and what-not sticking out of it, numerous screwdrivers and other tools scattered over the desk. It was still a little odd to walk in to the ops room and see what he was seeing reflected on the main console screen, though.

What Max did not expect to see, however, was Jessica there as well. She had a smile on her face and the two of them were conversing rapidly in Spanish, Berto saying something to make her laugh.

She glanced towards the front of the room, seeing Max standing there with a bemused expression on his face, and her smile disappeared. She leaned over and tapped on Berto's arm, saying something in Spanish which Max suspected was similar to "see you later".

"_Pásame el destornillador,_" Berto muttered back which Max was sure was not a proper reply to what Jessica had said. Jessica simply rolled her eyes good-naturedly as she passed Berto a screwdriver before she stood up and walked towards Max. "_Gracias,_" Berto muttered.

"Hey Max, see you around," she said as she passed him, Max nodding in reply. He waited until she'd walked out of the room, doors closing behind her, before he walked up to Berto.

"So, what's the call in for?" Max asked as he leaned against the desk, standing next to Berto. He didn't get an answer from Berto, the latter still immersed - both mentally and physically - in whatever he was fiddling with. "Berto?"

"_¿Qué?"_ Berto said, finally looking up at Max. "Oh, uh, hi. Didn't notice you were in the room. How long have you been standing there?"

"I gathered," Max said dryly. "I've been here about five minutes, give or take. What was Jessica laughing at?"

"Nothing, nothing, just...uh...you wouldn't get it." Berto fiddled with his glasses, turning his chair around. He began to sweep some of the tools he had scattered everywhere into a neat pile, placing the wire-covered contraption carefully next to them all. "I, uh, called you over because I've been running some diagnostics. All official, of course, everything on record and official and fine." Berto switched his attention to the main screen of the console, typing in a few commands. "I couldn't contact you through the bio-link; if I had I would have screwed up all of the diagnostics I had been running since this morning. Hence why I paged you instead."

A moment later, the console screen switched from showing what Max was viewing to showing a rather simple outline of a person on a blue background. Max glanced up at it for a few seconds before returning his gaze to Berto.

"Well, I and some of the other scientists, we've been thinking and testing, uh, largely over the past couple of weeks. We've been running tests and diagnostics and what-not, and, uh, we've -"

"Berto, you're babbling. You _never_ babble. Either Jessica got you a little bit flustered or this is some major piece of news you're worried about telling me."

"Right," Berto said, taking his glasses off and absent-mindedly cleaning them. It was a few seconds before he put them back on, looking a bit more relaxed. "We've been trying to see if we could identify a way, or more than one, to allow you to effectively 'shut down' the probes, at least temporarily. If we were able to do such a thing, then we could allow you to suppress your abilities and function closer to an average human being.

"If we could do such a thing, you would still need recharging but nowhere near as often. In fact, you could switch the probes off entirely, unless you needed to reactivate them for any specific reason - a mission, for example."

"But let me guess, you've had no luck."

"What was your first guess?" Berto asked innocently, and Max sighed.

"Well, if you _had_ figured out such a way, we wouldn't simply be standing here, talking about it. You'd be, instead, showing me how to do so."

"Right," Berto said, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "By my calculations, you're burning through transphasic energy a lot slower than you were three months ago, but still at quite a high rate. If my estimates are correct, if you could switch off the probes you could, theoretically, go months between recharges."

"And be back to the capabilities of an average human. Well, it'd be nice to be able to go through a training regime which does more than feel like a nice, casual stroll."

"Sorry, _hermano_. I'll keep working on it when I have time, see if we can find a way to allow you to do so."

"Thanks," Max said with a small smile. "And speaking of training regimes, I'd better head back to campus before Laura wonders where I am."

[ - ]

Max absently rubbed his eye as he walked out of the ops room, idly noticing Rachel walking towards him. He nodded his head in greeting, expecting to just walk past her and head back to campus where he was supposed to be meeting Laura in...he checked his watch. Half an hour.

"Ah, Max, good timing," Rachel said as she came to a halt beside him. "I was just about to ask Doctor Martinez to contact you; I have some information you need to know."

"What is this, 'info-dump Max day'?" he said wearily, nevertheless following Rachel as she turned around and headed for a meeting room. Max briefly wondered about getting a message out to Laura to tell her that he was going to be late, but that idea died as soon as he walked in to the meeting room.

Mairot was already at the head of the room, a good number of agents scattered around. That was par for the course, but what was unusual was the fact that Jefferson Smith was sitting in the front corner of the room, observing things.

Jefferson Smith _never_ observed things.

Max quietly took a seat, ignoring looking over at Jefferson as much as he could and, a few minutes later when the last of the agent made their way in, Mairot started talking.

"Over the past few weeks many athletes, both professional and amateur, have been receiving threatening letters and messages informing them against attending the DOX. These letters and messages have also stated that if the athletes choose to attend, the person who sent these items will not be responsible for anything which may happen."

The screen behind Mairot switched to one of the documents received, almost comically created. It was comprised of letters from what looked like newspaper and magazine headline clippings, something so profound and cartoony that Max had some trouble trying to figure out if this was meant to be taken seriously.

"The messages have all been left on voice mail, however, a voice distorter was also used, the words clear but ensuring that we have no way of tracking who may have made the calls and left the messages. Even knowing the exact code used we will not be able to undo the distortion.

"D-INT has been analysing the letters for fingerprints but so far they have yet to find anything on the letter itself other than the fingerprints of the athletes who received it. Unknown fingerprints have been found on the envelopes, but we suspect those are from the people who collected and delivered the letters.

"The postmarks on the envelopes are all from different areas in the United States, and so far no common element has been found to link them all."

Mairot paused, turning to look at some of the agents in the room. His gaze settled on Max, staying there for quite a few seconds; Max did his best to hold his gaze steady, suddenly feeling exceedingly uncomfortable under Mairot's gaze. After a few seconds, Mairot looked away and continued talking.

"Because of these threats, there will naturally be increased security at the DOX; some athletes have already pulled out of the event, citing the letters and messages as reason and informing people that they believe the risk to be too great. The majority of athletes, however, have agreed to continue to take part given extra precautions and added security. As a result, some of the people in this room will be assigned security positions for the event."

Mairot paused again before going over the general information of the DOX for the benefit of anyone in the room who didn't know about it, which Max suspected would be very few people. It was hard to live in Del Oro for any length of time and not hear about it.

"That will be all," Mairot said, dismissing the agents in the room. Everyone made a move to leave, Max included and he was halfway out of the room before Mairot spoke again. "Steel, I would like to speak with you privately. Leeds, you as well."

Max turned and sat back down, this time next to Rachel who was simply looking at Mairot coolly, unconcerned as to what he might inform them. Mairot waited until the last of the agents had headed out of the room before using the intra-organization PA system to call in Berto.

Berto hurried in a few moments later, casting an apologetic look over at Max; yet another thing which was confusing him. Mairot Jefferson Smith waited until Berto had sat down - barely - before speaking.

"There is one concern remaining about the security threats," Jefferson said, standing up and taking Mairot's place in the front of the room. "The agents who will be acting as security are a good precaution for when the athletes are scheduled to be somewhere where security can ensure their safety; however, when the athletes are out on the field, the security we can offer them diminishes rapidly."

"Okay," Max said, still confused. "Why am I being told about this?"

Berto cleared his throat and all of a sudden all attention was on him. He resisted the urge to nervously fiddle with his glasses, and instead began to speak. "The best security for the athletes when they're out on the field is to have another person with them out there, competing. If we were to have an INTEC agent competing, we couldn't avoid a kidnapping situation, for example, but we could ensure that the situation is less...precarious if we were able to liaise with someone from INTEC."

"You're thinking -? No, you can't be serious...you're serious." Max, gobsmacked, looked at everyone in the room - looked like it was a secret only to him. "Berto, come on. You've been running tests and diagnostics and what-not, you know I can't compete on a level playing field with the other athletes, not even if I was entered into the professional league. This doesn't make any sense."

"Actually, I think it does," Rachel said, speaking up. "Think about it, Max. You're one of a very small number of agents with the skill of and experience in extreme sports. You have knowledge of both requirements and you're the perfect person to be on the case. We'd only need to register you for the DOX - given that some athletes have withdrawn there should be some empty spaces, and you should breeze through the qualifying tests." Rachel turned to look at Max. "You've been watching the DOX for a number of years, right?"

"Yeah, I've been watching it since I started getting into extreme sports myself," Max said, not relishing the place where this was headed.

"Then you have a third advantage, knowledge of how the whole system works."

Max sighed before giving his answer. "All right, I'll do it. But for the record? I'm not happy about this at all."

"Duly noted, Max," Mairot said.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve:

"We're here, live in Del Oro for the sixth annual DOX championship. Since nineteen ninety-five Del Oro has been home to the DOX, an extreme sports competition catering to both the professional sports stars and the amateurs. Local sports technology company N-Tek has been helping to sponsor this event, making and keeping Del Oro a household name in extreme sports, propelling it from a little-known competition to an event which draws thousands of people here every year, all wanting to see the event live, as well as numerous sports fans at home.

"The fact that the DOX is split into two categories also allows N-Tek to spot any up and coming talents, that is, if they can get a contract signed before any other major competitors." Orrin Carter smiled before launching into a more in-depth explanation of the DOX for any potential new viewers in the audience. Max snorted at that; he doubted anyone who was watching _didn't_ know anything about the DOX, or extreme sports, but kept his opinion to himself. Instead, he idly watched Orrin continue on his spiel in the athlete's tent, temporary holdings for those who were soon to compete or those who had finished a competition.

The tent that Max was in was for the amateur athletes, although that didn't mean everyone there was new or has very little experience in the field; there were more than a few familiar, recurring faces in the tent, all of them having proved to be quite the athletes even though other circumstances meant they competed as amateurs rather than turning their skills to professionals.

Before his accident, Max had been seriously considering going pro, if only to have some years where he'd be free of N-Tek's influence and do something he loved; now, however, it looked like even an amateur event was too difficult for him to manage.

"Despite being marred by controversy, the DOX is scheduled to go ahead as planned, albeit with extra security and support for both the athletes and the volunteers. As a result of the controversy a number of athletes have declined to attend this year's event; however this doesn't mean that there are going to be empty positions. A large number of athletes were poised to take their places; Woody has more details."

"Thanks Orrin," a new person stated, the camera switching from showing Orrin to that of Woody in one of the blimps flying over the sports park and local mountain range. The windows of the blimp were just visible on the giant screen and Woody leaned forwards, a large grin seeming to fill the screen, obscuring some of the screens that were behind him, giving various glimpses at the sports park and mountains from different angles.

"The controversies are relating to threats against this event, but that hasn't deterred many athletes. Of the ones that it did deter, home-grown amateur talent Josh McGrath is one of the faces that I suspect many people here wanted to see compete, especially after a broken arm forced him from entering last year's competition. Hopefully we'll be able to see just what he can do next year, eh Orrin?

"In the absence of some of the usual competitors, this means that newcomers have a chance to make a name for themselves this year. To name just a few, Erik Hamil, Cody Warrins, Ted Kaspar, and Max Steel are among the new faces we'll be seeing over the course of the event, and it'll be interesting to see how these newcomers are able to compete with some of the old hands."

"That it will," Orrin said, the screen flicking back to show him once again. "In the meantime, let's recap some of the events that occurred earlier today."

The screen flicked momentarily to the DOX logo before pre-recorded footage showed up on the screen, a voice-over done by Orrin. For some of the athletes this was an indication that the next event was coming up; for others it simply represented a good time to stretch or get something to eat.

For Max, it was an indication he needed to get ready for his event. His was one of the first of the amateur events, the professional ones taking slight precedence (and considering how much fame and revenue the professionals could bring, it made sense). He headed out of the holding tent and across the pathway towards Mount Zirkle; the first amateur event was a simple rock climbing event up the side of Mount Zirkle.

Mount Zirkle was the other of the imposing two mountains in Del Oro, this one being on the other side of the city to Mount Corinth and nestling up quite close to the mountain range where his father and Laura's parents lived. It was the steepest of any mountain in Del Oro, offering an excellent surface to climb up, and indeed the entire sports park had been built with a mind to incorporating the mountain in some way, or at least making sure it wasn't too far away.

The architects had managed to just get it inside the sports park, with some creative thinking and border positioning, but it did mean that it was quite a way away from anything else, and also didn't have any audience seating around it; people would just have to be satisfied with watching the events on the screen.

"You ready,_ hermano_?" Berto asked as Max approached the mountain. "There's been no indication that the person or people that sent the letters have attempted to make a move; however, it's still only the first day and we need you in the competition."

"I know," Max muttered to himself. He'd heard the same or similar speeches from what seemed like everyone at INTEC - his dad, Mairot, Rachel, and now Berto. He knew how important it was for him to stay in the competition until the culprit was found, but...

It still didn't seem fair him competing.

As Max approached the section marked off for climbing, he groaned. Five people in each heat, and yet the only person he saw that was Rudy Renfro; Josh had never encountered the man in person before, but knew all too well what he was like from his numerous previous competitions and the way he'd always get up in the face of the camera, the person interviewing him, or both.

"Hey, Teflon," Rudy said once Max was within earshot, and Max grimaced. "Welcome to the big leagues; I gotta tell you, you might as well just quit now because no one beats me."

Max bit his tongue to prevent him from saying anything back - he knew Rudy, knew his tactics, and he wasn't going to let him get to him.

Rudy continued to make a few comments, but after a short period of time the other three competitors appeared: Erik Hamil, Kory Artest, and Alex Mitchells. Max had been giving information on the athletes competing in the amateur circuit and knew everyone's name and appearance. With all five competitors for the heat there, everyone began to suit up and get ready for the event.

"I'll be on radio silence while you're competing. Good luck," Berto said just before the link went silent. Max sighed to himself, looking up at the tall mountain before him. The finish line, a white stripe about two-thirds of the way up the mountain was visible even with normal vision, and Max was already calculating a path up the side of the mountain towards it.

"All right," one of the DOX staff said, standing at the side of the competitors. "Rules are simple. Reach the white line on the mountain. Speed is not vital as the people who go through to the next heat will be decided on times from all the heats; that doesn't mean you can take as long as you like as after an hour anyone still climbing will be disqualified. The top thirty-two competitors will make it through to the jet-ski slalom event in two days' time. You have ten minutes until your heat begins."

That was the queue for the other volunteers to help the competitors on to their harnesses, checking that everything was secure and there wasn't going to be any risk to them if they accidentally slipped off while climbing. The one helping Max gave an experimental tug on the line and, satisfied that it was secure, gave him a thumbs up.

"So, first time competing?" the person to Max's left said. Max turned to look at him, seeing a stocky Asian man next to him - Erik Hamill.

"Yeah, my first competition."

"I'm Erik Hamill."

"Max Steel."

"This is my first time competing, too," he said, glancing up at the mountain. "I've been watching this for years, tried to enter the past three years but I was never quite good enough to qualify. This year?" Erik chuckled. "I got lucky. Some of the other athletes dropping out meant that I was good enough to qualify, and here I am. I just didn't think the mountain was that tall..."

Erik trailed off, and Max chuckled softly to himself. There were murmurings from the other athletes (Rudy, thankfully, was a distance away, an athlete separating him and Max) and after a couple of minutes a small camera crew appeared on the sidelines, along with Orrin Carter. One of the technicians with the camera crew came up to the athletes.

"Listen up, we've got Orrin here working the event, and he'll be interviewing one or two of you afterwards. This means, don't dash off once the event's over." The woman gave everyone a hefty glare, popping her gum as she did so. When Max and the other athletes nodded, her glare switched to a brilliant smile in a second. "Great! Enjoy yourself."

Max rolled his shoulder as they waited for the cameras to start rolling, more out of a need to do something. After some time, the camera crew seemed to be happy with their positions, and the one staffing the main camera gave Orrin a thumbs-up.

"Okay, people, going out live in thirty seconds!" the man behind the main camera said, and another person began a countdown, falling silent and instead using fingers when they got to five. Just after they hit two, they pointed at Orrin and a second later he began to speak.

"Welcome to the third heat of the amateur rock-climbing event. We've already seen some great times posted from competitors in the previous two rounds, and this third one looks to be no different. We have two new competitors, Max Steel and Erik Hamill, as well as returning competitors Kory Artest, Alex Mitchells, and Rudy Renfro."

Orrin quickly walked backwards a couple of steps before turning around and heading straight for Rudy. "Rudy, quick interview. You came in second two years ago but you failed to make the podium last year. How do you rate your chances for this competition?"

Ruby grabbed the microphone from Orrin's hand, bringing it up almost too close to his face before he began to speak. "Orrin, I am _psyched_ and _souped_ for this event. I am on the top of my game and I _know_ what I'm going to do this year - I am going to end up in first place, and there is nothing or no-one that will be able to stop me. There is _no_ competition; Ruud is taking home the gold!"

Orrin thanked Rudy before turning and heading back behind the fence, stepping out of view of the cameras which were now focused on the athletes. Max pushed them out of his mind; he had this under control, no worries. A few seconds later a whistle blew and the athletes dashed towards the side of the mountain.

"And the third heat is now under way," Max heard Orrin comment quietly as he began to climb up the mountain, all-too-aware that he was likely to have a camera tracking his every movement - he'd only counted three cameras from the ground staff, but he was willing to bet there were more, fixed cameras around.

Max did his best to block them out, instead opting to set a nice, steady pace up the side of the mountain. A record-setting time? No. A quick time? No. One that would see him through in the top thirty-two comfortably but without drawing too much attention to himself? Yes.

"Current leader is Rudy Renfro, with newcomer Max Steel very close behind."

'Very close behind' was a misnomer as there was only a few inches between Max and Rudy; Max had actually had to alter his planned course as Rudy had made his way into Max's initial route and instead of going vertical was moving to the left side of the mountain, aiming to put some distance between the two of them.

Max risked a glance behind him; Mitchells and Artest were battling each other for third, still a ways down, and Hamill...was still struggling up the first section. Max shook his head and returned his attention to climbing vertically, satisfied that there was now enough distance between him and Rudy.

"If you think you can beat me, you're mistaken," Rudy sneered, and Max looked up to see Rudy just a foot above him and a couple more to his right. Well, that would explain why he had started to veer off towards the left; he wasn't looking for a better route, he was looking to get closer to Max.

"Oh, I'd be willing to take a bet," Max said with a smirk that was more a grimace, probably showing off more teeth than necessary. He turned his concentration back to climbing up the mountain, ignoring Rudy as best he could. Not that he needed the concentration to be able to climb up the mountain, his problem was concentrating enough to keep his abilities well within that of a typical human; if he was competing at his best he likely would have been almost all the way up the mountain by now.

He did make sure he was doing well enough to shadow Rudy, though - another quick glance down showed Artest in third place, and Mitchells and Hamill battling for fourth. Hamill had managed to get over the first hurdle and was now not too far off from where he and Rudy were, but unless a number of other athletes in the other heats did worse there was little chance Hamill and Mitchells would make it beyond the rock climbing event.

"Renfro is not letting Steel show him up," Orrin commented, and Max gritted his teeth.

"But Steel isn't just going to roll over and hand victory to Renfro; this is going to be an interesting heat," Woody added, Max just about hearing him over Orrin's earpiece.

"Renfro doesn't seem to care that he can hang back and still have a chance of competing in the slalom - even though this is a heat he still wants to go all out and win."

"Well, Orrin, Renfro does want to win gold, and after his trashing the year before - going from second to eighth - he's not going to be happy if he finishes second or worse in this competition."

Max shook his head, turning out the commentary as best as he could. While it worked at distracting him and slowing him down, too many frequent pauses were likely to draw questions. Instead, he focused all his attention on climbing up the mountain, catching up to Rudy as much as he could. Artest was close behind; Max had afforded another quick glance and the heavy breathing of the man solidified just how close he was.

After a couple of minutes Max was almost level with Rudy, and it was a minute more before Rudy said anything - Max had wondered if Rudy hadn't noticed.

"You put up a good fight, I'll give you that," Rudy sneered back at Max, pausing to speak. "There's no way you're going to win with that shoddy technique of yours."

Now that was the wrong thing to say - Max had been following Rudy enough to see that his technique was hardly flawless. He had a strong habit of either stretching too far for the next handhold, and often countered that with sticking too close to where he currently was climbing - both cost him time and technique.

_We'll see who's got a sloppy technique,_ Max thought to himself, starting to power his way through the climb. Within moments he was level with Rudy, not even caring to glance over to see whether Rudy had an expression of shock or annoyance on his face. Gradually, Max began to pull ahead, placing him in first, increasing the distance between the two of them every second; he head Rudy curse, heard him scrabble and took the assumption that he was now trying to hurry up the mountain to catch up with Max.

However, his technique let him down, and he barely managed to make a dent in the distance between them. Max heard a scuff, a half-suppressed yelp from Rudy, and glanced down to see him further away, marks in the side of the mountain evidence that Rudy had miscalculated a step and skidded down.

Max grinned, despite the situation, and continued blazing a path up the side of the mountain; he was now so far ahead of Rudy that the latter only had a chance of catching up if Max decided to completely stop and _let_ Rudy catch up, and while that idea was tempting (if only to be able to give back to Rudy some of what Max had seen him give to other athletes over the years), he continued climbing up the mountain, being the first to cross the white finish line. He pulled himself onto the flat, table-top like section of the mountain and allowed himself to tune back in to the commentary Orrin and Woody were no doubt giving, grinning a little at his victory. He readjusted his harness, glancing behind him to make sure no one was heading up the same path, and began abseiling back down. As he passed Rudy he got a rather vicious glare, but chose to ignore it.

"And Max Steel finishes the heat in first place, beating out Rudy in to second. Well, looks Rudy may have some competition for the gold - Steel tore up the second half of that mountain like there was nothing too it. If Steel keeps up this skill in the other competitions, it looks like Rudy's thoughts of being guaranteed a gold may be more of a challenge than he thought."

"Indeed, Woody. Max's winning time is also the fastest out of any of our previous competitors. This puts him in a very good position for him to earn a spot in the slalom - only if everyone in the next seven heats posts a better time will he be out of the running."

Orrin and Woody went quiet as Max continued to abseil down, passing the other competitors. Rudy reached the finish line before too long, also beginning his descent, and Artest was just finishing when Max touched down on the ground, Orrin walking over to him before Max had the chance to begin to remove his harness.

"Max Steel," Orrin said with a wide grin, one which Max carefully reflected back. "You just posted the fastest time of all competitors so far - how do you feel about that?"

"Well, Orrin," Max said, sounding a little out of breath. "I just went for it, expecting to get a good time."

"Indeed. There will have to be a good competitor coming up to even think about challenging your time, and considering that you are quite a distance away from the person in second place you look to be in good standing for a position for the jet-ski slalom."

"Well, Orrin, I just hope whoever is competing against me is more of a challenge than Rudy Renfro was."

Max glanced over his shoulder, grinning at Rudy who had only moments before reached the ground, and from the dark look on his face he had all too easy heard Max's taunt.

[ - ]

A few hours and three more heats later, and the amateur events at the DOX were was almost over with for the day. The last climbing event and one of the professional events, the vert skateboarding, was still going ahead with its last heat of the day - most of the people watching in the stadium had begun to head home, leaving the sports park looking the emptiest Max had ever seen it. Even in the off seasons there were still a scattering of people around and practising in their chosen sport.

Max glanced up at the leader board for the amateur events once again, despite knowing the results that would be there. Like Orrin had said, only a handful of other competitors had come close to matching his time so far, let alone risk knocking him into second place. Much to his assumed annoyance, Rudy was down in eighth place, his picture bearing more of a scowl than the others which had small smiles or neutral expressions. With one heat remaining there was barely any chance that Max's time would be beaten.

Max shook his head slightly and returned to his early dinner - he'd stuck around to watch the rest of the heats, arguing with himself about whether he wanted to keep an eye on the competition or simply wanted to watch them compete, and after the previous last heat had finished he'd decided to grab some food at the park instead of heading down to the promenade or back home.

He didn't have anything spectacular - burger, fries, and a soda - but it was free to all competing athletes, and he couldn't complain. Well, okay, he could: refined carbs and heavy on the fat, not the type of food and athlete would choose. He just couldn't complain _much_.

He barely glanced up when the door to the cafeteria opened yet again as a number of people had been either walking in or walking out of the building, but did take notice when someone slipped into the seat opposite him in the booth. He looked up to see Rachel sitting there, the INTEC uniform he was so used to seeing her in replaced with a simple blouse and black slacks. He placed his half-eaten burger back on the plate and tried to look as if he wasn't subtly observing everyone in the room.

"We need to talk," she said, softly, almost a whisper. Max glanced over his shoulder, seeing the cafeteria still pretty crowded - even talking in hushed tones it was possible someone would be able to overhear something, and with Rachel being part of the security team he doubted that people would _want_ to hear what she needed to say.

"Where?"

"Can we slip out for a moment?"

Max stifled a sigh - free or not, he'd expect his food to be gone by the time he got back (and even if it was, it would likely be cold), but he nodded at Rachel anyway. Rachel stood up elegantly and walked over to the doors, Max following a few steps behind.

Even as soon as they were out of the cafeteria, Rachel didn't slow down; instead, she kept up her brisk pace, weaving around some of the equipment left out ready for tomorrow. The further they headed away from the cafeteria the quieter it got, and soon Rachel had slowed to a halt in a dimly-lit, quiet area.

"We've received more threats," she said quietly, no hint of anxiety or worry. "These have been emailed directly to Margaret Osato."

"VP of N-Tek Consumer products? Why are they emailing her and not someone like Jefferson?"

"We've yet to identify why, but the fact that this was sent to her indicates that the blackmailers may think they are targeting a sports technology company."

Max nodded. "Which athletes have been threatened?"

"A number." Rachel rattled off a short list of names from memory, culminating in his name. "There have also been some threats levied against the volunteers of the DOX, although no one has been named specifically as of yet. We're looking into stepping up the security measures as identifying and keeping safe the hundred-odd volunteers is a much larger job than ensuring the safety of the athletes."

"I'll bet. Why are the _volunteers_ being targeted though? They've not done anything."

"Whoever is making the threats may think that the risk to the athletes is enough - you know how few athletes decided against competing here, even when they were specifically named and targeted. Targeting the volunteers who have done nothing but give their time for this event? I would suspect that if any harm were to befall them it would create much more negative attention against both the DOX and N-Tek's sport side."

Max mused over that information for a bit, noting that Rachel seemed to be right. If he, as Josh, didn't know anything about N-Tek's counter-terrorism side and knew that Laura was likely to be one of the people threatened simply for just being a volunteer...well, he'd certainly be arguing for her safety, if not withdrawing from the event entirely.

"We're going to be more vigilant - both INTEC security and the local police - but if these threats continue to be made, especially against the staff and volunteers, it will eventually get to a point where we won't be able to justify continuing with the event. In all likelihood, the DOX will need to be shut down for this year."

"No one's going to be happy about that," Max muttered darkly. "What kind of message will that send? N-Tek already had trouble when they initially built the sports park, what's to say someone won't just use the same methods again next year, and the year after that?"

"It's a risk we'll have to take."

Max sighed. "Have any of the other athletes been informed?"

"Not as yet. None of the volunteers have been informed of the recent change in circumstances, either. We are currently keeping the information to the security staff only; we feel it's wise as without any specific threats informing people may just cause them to panic."

"How long are you planning on keeping them in the dark for?"

"Until the situation either disappears or escalates. I know it seems unprofessional, but the best thing we can do for the time being is to continue this event as normal. Until we get more specific threats, or information on how to negotiate with the person or people who are making the threat we cannot act without due cause."

Max looked at Rachel for a few moments. "I don't like this."

"Neither do I." Within moments, Rachel's pager went off and she grabbed it and looked at it. "I need to leave for a meeting; I trust everything else is as it should be?"

"Yeah, save for the security threat," Max muttered. Rachel simply looked at him before turning and walking towards the entrance of the park; Max turned around and headed back for the cafeteria.

[ - ]

The first half of the amateur climbing events passed without incident - no threats, no concerns, and no one setting any kind of record breaking time. Max was still sitting firmly at the top of the leader board, a bull fifteen seconds between him and the person in second place. Because of Max's almost record-setting pace there had already been quite a bit of talking between Orrin and Woody, as well as the stand-in presenters, about just how well Max could do on the other events based on his performance. That infuriated Rudy to no end, not least because Max supposed _he_ was supposed to be getting all the attention and instead a nobody was getting all the attention. It did annoy Max slightly as well - he was not supposed to have all this attention focused on him, even though his pre-Max self would have relished it.

The two thirty-two times for the amateur events were posted on digital boards across the sports park, indicating the people who'd be moving on to the jet-ski slalom event. With only half the events completed it was possible - but not very likely - that all the thirty-two competitors on the board currently could be knocked off by the end of the event. Fifty people in ten heats had competed, with the same number still to go.

Max finished off his food and began to head 'home' towards the hotel building he was supposed to be staying in for the competition. Instead he pulled into a dark side-street and made sure no one was watching (even glancing up to make sure no one was watching from a house window) before switching back to Josh and heading to his beach house.

He'd only been alternating between Josh and Max for a day, but it was already starting to give him a headache trying to remember little details and what he was supposed to know and not supposed to know. Max was booked into a hotel room; Josh was tending a beach house. Max was competing in the DOX; Josh was attending class and working for N-Tek. Max was from out of town; Josh had lived in Del Oro all his life.

As he pulled into his driveway he was just glad his time in Del Oro was going to be limited to the sports park - he had no idea how he'd cover the fact that he knew more about the place than any out-of-towner should know even with a ton of research on the town.

Josh fished out his keys and opened the door wide, looking with a little surprise at Pete lounging out on his sofa, drink in one hand, remote in the other, and television on. Tuned to LiveSport, it was showing highlights of the day including - Josh winced - Max's heat in the rock climbing.

"Hey McGrath," Pete said, taking a slow sip of his drink. "You're back late; where you been?"

"Dad called me in for some work," Josh said as he shut the door behind him. He walked towards the sofa, resisting the urge to grab the remote from Pete's hand and shut the television off. "How long have you been here?"

Pete shrugged. "Couple of hours maybe. Let myself in." He finished off the soda he was drinking and tossed it casually on to the coffee table; it fell on its side but, thankfully as was empty, nothing spilled out.

"I gathered that," Josh muttered to himself. He brushed past the sofa and headed in to the kitchen, opening the fridge and glancing in. Josh frowned, glancing all over the fridge, even moving to shift some items out of the way; after a minute he gave up his search, closed the fridge, and turned to look at Pete.

"That was the last soda, wasn't it?" Josh said, noting that Pete at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed about it. Josh didn't get a verbal answer, but didn't care - he instead turned to scouring the cupboards for food, having found nothing decent in the fridge. He was hungry, more so than usual, and the meal back at the sports centre (well, one and a half) had taken most of the edge off but he was still hungry.

His luck was just as good in the cupboards, though; Josh pulled out some packets of pasta (one of which he noted was starting to go green in the packaging), soup tins, and a few bags of candy he'd bought when it was on offer and, evidently, shoved to the back of the cupboard and forgot about. He _could_ make a meal out of the pasta and the soup, but the idea wasn't all that enticing.

_Wonder how packed Café Café is_, Just mused, before pushing that idea out of his head. He'd just got home; there was no way he was driving out to pick up a pizza from a place halfway across town. Instead he glanced over at the multitude of takeaway menus stuck to his fridge door and made a mental note to place an order later.

Josh turned around and walked back into the living room, collapsing onto the sofa and grabbing the remote from Pete, dialling down the volume before placing the remote on the sofa between him and Pete. They'd thankfully moved on to recapping the professional events and Josh watched for a second, part out of interest and part out of envy.

"So, what's been going on?" Josh asked. "Generally, not just the DOX."

"Laura called, said she'd be around at seven."

Josh glanced at the clock; it was a quarter to.

"That's all that's been happening in your world. The DOX has been a little more interesting," Pete said, jerking a thumb at the television. "You've got the usual group of people who've just barely managed to qualify on the amateur events and it shows. They had no chance of getting anywhere near a good time.

"Then your usual names, people who've been around for a few years and people know to look out for them. Rudy Renfro's back this year, aiming for gold."

Josh hid a sneer.

"And then there's this guy," Pete said, grabbing the remote and rewinding the program, playing it again when the recap hit the section showing the last thirty seconds of Max's climb, Orrin and Woody's narration all too easily heard. Josh held back a wince as he saw himself on screen, noting the path and technique he'd chosen, as well as his apparent ability to dash up the last section.

"Complete unknown," Pete said, setting the program back to the live broadcast. "No one's heard of him before today, yet he managed to thrash Rudy Renfro and get the fastest time of the competition. People are wondering if he's going to make a podium finish - with the way he completed the rock climbing it's not impossible. People are already taking bets on his success. Personally? I wouldn't be surprised if the guy turned pro soon with his abilities. Unbelievable, huh?" Pete turned to look at Josh with a smile on his face, an expression Josh tried to return.

"Definitely. What's his name?"

"Max Steel. Strange name, but..." Pete shrugged. "It's a shame you're not competing this year, I would have loved to see how Max Steel would be able to compete against you."

"Maybe next year," Josh said. "Assuming he's still around."

"Are you kidding? At this rate I expect to see Max Steel around for years."

Josh winced, hoping that Pete didn't see that. Thankfully, he'd turned his attention back to the television as Orrin wrapped up the events of the day, the live broadcast from the sports park ending.

"I'll be looking forward to it," Pete said as the programming switched to adverts after informing people of the upcoming schedule; at that he flicked over to a random channel and settled down in to the sofa. Josh settled in as well for a short while, getting up and heading over to the front door when the doorbell rang; he opened the door to see Laura there, to no great surprise.

What _was_ a surprise was the annoyed expression on her face. She didn't even bother with pleasantries before storming into the house, leaving a slightly confused Josh to shut the door behind them. Pete glanced over at them from his position on the sofa, but didn't say anything or move any more.

"You made me look like make a fool of myself today," she said by way of explanation, doing nothing but only increasing Josh's confusion.

"What did I do?"

"Well, it turns out there is a Rachel working at the DOX. There is _also_ a Margaret working at the DOX. There is not a Rachel Margaret - it's Rachel _Leeds_ and Margaret _Osato_. I asked this a month ago, and I'm asking again: who is Rachel?"

"Rachel Leeds? Uh, she's..." Josh trailed off, wincing as Laura kept a steady gaze aimed at him. "She's...a work colleague. At N-Tek. We met over the summer when I started working there."

"Uh-huh, that explains why she called you during work right?" Laura began to pace around, drawing uncomfortably close (in Pete's opinion) to the sofa, causing him to shuffle back a bit. He stayed sitting, ready to jump out at a moment's notice if it was needed.

"Well, Rachel's my supervisor, she needs to be in contact -"

"And N-Tek relies on cell phones for communication? You must have really bad technology in place to need that."

"She was away. Out. How else was she supposed to contact me? Look." Josh sighed. "I've had a difficult day at work, could we save the argument and indignation for later?"

Laura kept her gaze, but said nothing for a moment. "I suppose."

"Hey, guys, I've gotta go," Pete said, jumping up from the sofa now that the area was relatively clear. "I've got a date with Sylvia in fifteen minutes."

"See you, Pete," Josh mumbled out as he dashed out of the front door, the door itself slamming shut once Pete had disappeared from view. "So, is there anything else you came here to talk about?" he added, turning to look at Laura.

"Well, I was here to just catch up with you as you've been at work and I've been at the DOX, but then the whole Rachel thing occurred." Laura sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Rachel did get a good smile out of the confusion, and that's about the only good thing I can say about it."

[ - ]

Fortunately for Josh, with Max not expected to compete again in the DOX until two days after his rock climbing heat and no classes scheduled for the day either, he had some free time. Unfortunately, while he would have liked to have spent it at home, relaxing (especially between DOX competition heats) he was instead wandering the halls of INTEC in his Max Steel guise, cell phone in his pocket just in case the people at the DOX needed to contact him. It was vastly more likely that he'd be contacted through official INTEC channels if it was anything to do with security; anything dealing with him as a competitor was highly unlikely, but he still had his phone with him just in case.

Max decided to take a quick detour into the training room, bored and curious about who, if anyone, was still around. He'd spotted a few agents who'd started at about the same time as him but it was very quickly apparent that the more senior, knowledgeable, and experienced agents had been pulled in for security or on other missions, leaving the whole place eerily empty.

"Hey, Steel," Kat said by way of greeting. "Nice event yesterday." She paused on the weight machine, the contraption beeping until she leaned over and typed in a quick number sequence.

"You're the last person I'd expect to be here," Josh said with a raised eyebrow. "How come you're not on security for the DOX? I though extreme sports was right up your alley."

"It's more fun watching them when I don't have to also spend time guarding people. INTEC needed some people to stay behind and I volunteered; I'm a lot less bored here than I'd be at the DOX, and at least here I've got the training room to keep me occupied."

"I see," Max said, taking a couple of steps closer to Kat. She stood up, grabbing a towel and quickly wiping the back of her neck before dropping it on her bag. "Has there been any news from the DOX?"

"Not a thing. Either nothing's actually happening or they're keeping us out of the loop for everything but the most damaging or dangerous information. We're already low on staff as it is, and if anything major does occur we're running the risk of leaving INTEC seriously short-staffed. Given what happened the last time, I'm not sure anyone's in a hurry to duplicate that situation." She gave a pointed look in Max's direction, and he fought down the urge to defend himself - it wasn't _his_ fault that the metal-faced terrorist had decided to dump a vat of nanotechnology on him.

"I remember vividly," Max deadpanned, earning a small grin from Kat.

"The best mistake INTEC's ever made, huh?"

"Not sure I'd put it like that," Max muttered, largely to himself, but from the fact that Kat's grin reduced slightly he hazarded a guess that she'd heard him. "Have you been watching the DOX?"

"A few minutes here and there when I've had the time," Kat replied nonchalantly. "Why?" She looked up at him with a blank expression, no hint of anger, annoyance, or even asking the question to trick him into an answer.

Max waited a few moments before answering. "Okay, be honest; how much did I screw up on the climbing?"

"Depends what you mean by 'screw up'. Screw up by being a good competitor?" Kat looked away from him, rubbing her neck quickly before turning back. "No. Screw up by drawing a hell of a lot of attention to yourself? _Yes_." Kat drew herself up to her full height, still almost a head shorter than Max, and walked over to him, glaring. Max resisted the urge to back away. "You were intended to stay in the background, to do good enough but not _too good_ to stand out. Well, I guess Steel's got a competitive streak because what I saw out there was as sure as hell you _not_ keeping to the side and not drawing attention to yourself. Now there _is_ a price on your head in this competition, as opposed to the fictional one we made Margaret believe.

"Congratulations, Steel. You fucked up."

"Like you would have kept in the shadows," Max snapped back. "You're just as bad as me when competing, if not _worse._"

"The difference between you and me, Steel? I don't have superpowers which can leave everyone in the dust. If I got competitive and fought over first place with someone, I'd draw attention to myself, sure, but I wouldn't have people commenting about my amazing abilities." Kat paused, continuing to glare at him for a few moments more. "I've got a shower to take and a meeting to go to. Don't you have a meeting to get to?"

"No, I -" Max was cut off by his pager which started beeping. He grabbed it and looked at the message on the screen while Kat smirked at him.

"Yeah, you do. Have fun being a target."

Max said nothing in reply, simply turning around and walking out of the training room. He began to make his way to the building's exit assigned meeting room, all too easily picking up the sound of fists thumping against something - Kat turning her attention and, from the frequency of the punches, frustrations on to one of the many punching bags dotted around the training room.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen:

Max sighed to himself as the sight of the sports park came in to view. The pager message had been brief and mystifying, simply informing him to return to the sports park as soon as he possibly could. As it had come through official INTEC channels it was something security-related rather than event-related, but even that information didn't offer Max much clarity.

Instead he went to the main gates, showing the guards there his temporary ID, the same as issued to all other athletes for the competition. After a brief glance the guards waved him in and he headed over to the cafeteria, noting that very few people were in the stalls and there was no one he could see competing on any of the events. That was very strange as, aside from the second section of the amateur rock climbing heats, there was also some last-minute vert skating events for the professionals before scores were tallied and they moved on to their second event of the competition.

As he got closer to the cafeteria he could see where all of the athletes had gone: along with some of the security and what looked like all of the volunteers who were helping out that morning had converged on that one building, making things inside quite crowded. Max managed to squeeze in, settling himself against the back wall, sure that he'd be able to hear all that was being discussed (and a little more, as he worked on identifying and tuning out the random murmurs of non-official personnel in the building).

Max noted that at the front was someone he didn't recognise - general park security from the looks of him, relaxed yet ready to jump into action. He took a calm, leisurely look over the assembled crowd before speaking.

"We have received more threats against the athletes in this competition." He paused, letting that information sink in. "We have had threats against numerous people and, due to the current situation, we are left no choice but to inform everyone involved in this."

"So what's going to happen?"

"Best case scenario is that we can apprehend the suspects and prevent them following through with any of their threats. The worst case scenario is that we may have to look in to temporarily suspending the DOX."

"We're just s'pposed to let them have their way? Hell no; I'm staying in even if I'm the last one competing."

The security guard fixed the speaker with a look. "This is more than just about the athletes; the latest threats have started to be directed against some of the people who work at the sports park, including some of the volunteers." That got everyone's attention, the cafeteria erupting into cacophony of voices.

"Volunteers? But I...I didn't agree to any of this!"

"If we do cancel the DOX, what's to say they won't pull this same stunt again? What's stopping them from shutting it down for good?"

"Well, we can't endanger people just to continue with this event - if we need to shut down the DOX, we should."

Max stayed back in the crowds, quietly observing and not making any attempt to join in the conversation. Logically, he knew the way this should be handled: temporarily shut down the DOX while the police, security, and INTEC agents tracked down just who was making the threats. If found quickly, the DOX could be restarted that year; if not, the event would be abandoned and resume the following year.

However, knowing some of the athletes competing, that was going to be a hard decision to justify.

The door to the cafeteria opened, and Max looked up, seeing another bunch of volunteers in high-vis jackets heading inside, among them Laura. The noise quieted down a little upon their arrival, although a few people were still debating among themselves over what was the right thing to do.

The security guard gathered together the volunteers who had just come in; Max watched with disassociated interest as the guard explained the situation to them, seeing Laura's eyes going wide at the news. Once done, he returned to the front of the room to continue.

"New athletes have been named, as well as threats against the volunteers - no specific names. We are currently debating whether to shut down the DOX; however people have voice concerns over what would occur in the future if we were to shut it down now. If we shut down and continued threats are made against the DOX year on year, it may end up that the DOX is cancelled outright.

"We, the security and coordinators cannot make that call. Not yet, anyway. What we can do is, for the moment, is offer the choice to the athletes and volunteers, as they are the ones at risk. Those who wish to leave the event can do so; those who wish to stay can remain. The only exception is if more people quit than decide to stay - if too many people leave we will have to shut down the DOX both because of security reasons but also a lack of people available to compete in the events."

"Let me get this straight. You want us to vote on whether or not we stay here in the face of an unknown threat? Screw that; I'm out." A few murmurs of approval rippled through the assembled crowd.

"And let them shut down the DOX permanently?"

"It won't _be_ permanent. Let them postpone the events, find the people responsible, and start it all back up again."

Max groaned and raised a hand up to rub his forehead as the arguments all started up again, everyone talking over everyone else and not letting any opinion be heard fully. At the rate they were progressing the decision would only be made after the DOX had ended, making it all a moot point - unless the threats escalated and forced it to be shut down regardless of the popular vote.

"What kind of threats have been made against us?" Laura said, cutting through the heated discussions. Almost everyone fell silent, their gazed focused straight on her. "If we know the specifics, can't we stand a good chance of figuring out how to protect ourselves?"

"Yes, well..." the guard stammered, not seeming to have expected to be asked that question. "We've not received anything specific."

"So you have no idea what the potential danger actually is?"

"If we did, we would be moving to shut down the DOX immediately. All threats have been vague, even those directed at the athletes: all written in a similar fashion with a generic 'something bad will happen' threat."

"I don't care about threats - I'm going to continue competing," one athlete said, and Max turned around to look at him quickly. Strawberry blond hair, brown eyes, one of the professional athletes. "I'm not letting a bunch of nobodies shut this down. Who's with me?"

A general cheer went up from most of the other athletes, the vast majority being professionals but some also amateur (including Rudy, Max noticed). The ones who weren't cheering looked a little uncomfortable, but none moved to head outside.

"I'm staying in as a volunteer. We've got good security here, nothing will happen." A few murmurs of agreement went up among the volunteers, although unlike the athletes the majority of them didn't look altogether convinced. Max glanced over at Laura, seeing her biting her bottom lip nervously; she hadn't moved to say she'd continue, but she wasn't immediately heading out and forgetting the whole event.

"All right," the guard said, bringing the attention back to him once again. "Anyone who doesn't feel safe can leave: athletes, volunteers, and staff included. Those who are going to continue will remain here and the DOX will continue as planned. We'll increase the security in preparation for any future incidents."

A few moments after the guard had finished speaking a small scattering of people got up and headed out of the cafeteria. A few athletes Max had seen competing left, along with a small but significant proportion of the volunteers - Laura, he noticed, was still staying put. Once the last of the people had left, the cafeteria door closing behind them, the guard turned to look at the remaining people.

"This is the last caution. Any other threats issued, even generic ones, will mean we shut down the DOX."

[ - ]

The next morning started off with a brilliantly bright day, barely any clouds in the sky. Normally such a day, though common in Del Oro, would be appreciated; however, given that the water slalom event was taking place a cloudless sky meant the sun could reflect easily off the sea, causing patches of almost blinding sunshine. The resignation of some of the athletes had changed the two top thirty-two line-up, giving some athletes a second chance at competing.

The water slalom was also a back-up event; the professional athletes competing on freestyle motocross meaning that Orrin and Woody, along with their camera crews, were featuring that event live. There were still a few camera crews around for the water slalom which would be recording for the highlight event at the end of the day. People at the sports park could still view the event on some of the screens but it was nowhere near the main event of the day.

For once, Max was glad of that. He did not want a repeat of the mountain climbing event broadcast live - at the very least, if it was a highlight reel any mistakes he made would hopefully be hidden away in amongst all of the other heats. His heat wasn't scheduled until mid-afternoon, but between him wanting to see the competition and the new threats against the athletes, he was sitting in one of the viewing tents watching the broadcast. The viewing tents were off-limits to anyone but athletes, staff, and volunteers, meaning they were less crowded than if they were open to everyone, but could still be fairly packed depending on the time of day.

Max leaned back in his chair, casually glancing over to the door of the tent when someone walked in. He turned his attention back to the main screen, listening to what the backup presenters were saying. It still being fairly early, Michaela was recapping yesterday's events for the benefit of anyone who hadn't seen the events. She quickly finished her section and passed over to the second alternate presenter who was standing by the bay, ready for the slalom event.

"Thanks Michaela," he said with a wide, almost insincere looking grin. "The slalom event is simple: eight heats of four competitors each. Unlike the mountain climbing, the winners of each heat are guaranteed a place in the triathlon. The rest of the competitors will be made up of the eight fastest runners up. As you said, Michaela, some of the athletes withdrawing from the competition has shaken up the top thirty-two leader board, and athlete Rhett Torrillo has been given a second shot for the triathlon because of this. He was in thirty-fourth position, zipping up to thirty-first after some of the athletes above him quit.

"The renewed threats have yet to make a dent in the athletes competing and the people turning up to watch these events live, and aside from some athletes withdrawing it has also yet to have much of an impact on the DOX itself. Let's get started with the first heat." The image on the screen shifted away to one showing an overhead view of the slalom course, courtesy of one of the back-up blimps available, quickly highlighting the path the athletes would take through it.

"Hey, mind if I sit here?" someone said, and Max glanced up to see Laura standing next to him.

"Go ahead," Max said, Laura slipping into the chair next to him just as he stopped speaking. "You're one of the volunteers, right?"

"Yeah," Laura said, leaning forward on the table next to her. "You're...Max Steel, right? Are you competing in a later heat?"

"I am; spending my time watching the first heats to get an idea of the layout of the course. I'd like to memorise it as best as I can before my heat; I've got pretty much the whole morning to spend waiting around and there's nothing better to occupy my mind with."

"I've got quite the fascinating day, too. Walk around and make sure everything is where it should be; make sure unauthorised people aren't trying to gatecrash; general housekeeping and making sure everything's running smoothly. Trust me, waiting around for a few hours is much less boring that what I'm going to be doing."

"At least you'll actually be doing something. My morning's work is just sitting around trying to look enthused about the whole situation."

"Why are you here so early then?"

"A request from security. They don't want any athletes wandering around. Well, more than they feel safe with. Any athletes still in Del Oro have been asked to be at the DOX from the time it starts until the time it finishes."

"Isn't that a little...dangerous? I mean, all the athletes together in one place, wouldn't that make the job of whoever's making the threats easier?"

Max shrugged. "Maybe, but I didn't come up with that idea." He leaned back in his chair, trying to look casual. "So, if you find this stuff boring, why are you here?"

"Well, my boyfriend was supposed to be competing in the amateur event this year, and he asked me to help out. He had to drop out because he didn't have time - he's in college and his dad also got him to start working for N-Tek during the summer."

"So why didn't you quit as well?"

Laura shuffled in her seat. "I would have felt guilty. I'd already volunteered my time, and for me to just pull out wouldn't have been fair." She gave Max a small smile. "You understand, right?"

"Kinda."

"Plus, well, a couple of people I know have already withdrawn because of the threats. I don't blame them - taking a week off school to volunteer for this is always tricky unless you're doing a class in sports, but to take a week off only to learn you're the target of environmentalists? Well, that tends to put a different spin on things."

"Environmentalists? What have they got to do with anything?"

Laura chuckled ruefully. "You haven't paid attention to the history of this sports park. When it was originally designed and built there was huge uproar from environmentalists - some threats and a large number of protests about it. N-Tek helped to design it and they did their best to mediate, making the park as environmentally friendly as they could, but for some people that wasn't good enough - they wanted it gone. That died down a couple of years after the park was completed. It looks like they're back now though."

"If it's environmentalists, why would they target specific people rather than the whole event?"

"I don't claim to be an expert; I'm just telling you what I know. Maybe they thought targeting the athletes would give them more news coverage and give them better chances of getting the DOX shut down? Considering the number of protests and threats against the park itself when it opened, I'm not sure anyone who was around for those would take them seriously."

"I suppose," Max said before the two of them lapsed into silence, both watching the first heat of the slalom. After a bit Laura started up the conversation again, chatting about general, mostly meaningless stuff - items to take both of their minds off their previous discussion, and Max willingly joined in. He'd memorised the slalom course from the initial overhead shot and had little other reason to keep watching other than just sheer boredom.

"Oh, jeez, sorry. I need to get going. I need to make sure everything's all right down by the motocross before heading over to the slalom." Laura smiled. "Maybe I'll see you there?"

"Maybe," Max replied with a smile of his own.

"Well, if I don't, good luck." She quickly stood up and dashed out of the viewing tent, surprising an athlete who was just heading inside. He barely acknowledged her, simply going and sitting down on the opposite side to Max.

[ - ]

Max fiddled with the fastening on his helmet, glancing around the harbour. As expected, there were only a few scattered pockets of people around, the majority either crowded around the track for the freestyle motocross or watching screens showcasing the event. It was also getting quite late, shadows growing longer across the bay and as Max watched more and more people began to trickle out of the sports park, evidently having had enough of sports for the day.

There were still a few people around, one of whom which had been a black-haired girl, looking around eight or nine years old. A bored-looking female relative, likely her mother from how similar they looked, had accompanied her and Max noticed a small sigh from the older woman as the girl all but shoved a notebook and pen into Max's face as he walked past on the route from the athlete's tent to the harbour. The girl had asked for a signature and, with a chuckle, Max complied.

"This is the first time I've been here!" she said excitedly and a little breathlessly, and Max asked a few question questions which she answered with the same enthusiasm as her initial statement. It turned out that she was not only ecstatic to see the DOX live for the first time - all previous ones she'd only seen on the television - although a little disappointed she wasn't able to see Josh McGrath compete. The events being cool so far (her own words) had made up for her disappointment.

A quick scan of the open page had shown a fair few other signatures, including Rudy's - he absently wondered just how she managed to persuade him to sign her book as he passed it back, an ecstatic grin on the girl's face as she clutched the notebook to her chest.

_I wonder how much my dad was bored when I pestered him to attend these kind of events,_ he wondered, glancing back towards the fenced path. He could still see the two people there, the young girl chatting excitedly and pointing towards him a couple of times. Max grinned to himself as he headed up towards the harbour, slotting in behind one of the last athletes in the lineup. There were a couple of security guards there and a scattering of volunteers, one of gave Max a quick look but said nothing, returning their attention to the clipboard they were carrying.

"DOX slalom event, heat six, scheduled to start in five minutes. All competitors for this heat, please make your way down to the starting grid. All spectators, please ensure you stay behind the fences; this is for your own safety."

"Five minutes?" one of the athletes close to Max grumbled, loud enough for him to hear but not any of the staff or volunteers. "Why do they need us here so early?"

His question was answered a short moment later as a couple more volunteers arrived on the scene and made a good show of checking out the jet-skis lined up against the harbour. One of them discussed with the rest and, seeming happy that everything was okay, headed back where they had come from and conversed with one of the security guards that were standing around. Max followed the path the volunteers had taken, catching sight of Rachel acting as security and Laura off in the distance at the finish line of the slalom course.

"Area clear," the walkie-talkie on the guard said, and the guard picked it up and muttered something in reply. He looked back towards the athletes.

"All right, everything checks out. You should have been given your assigned numbers for this heat; please make your way to the assigned jet-skis."

The three athletes ahead of Max did so, and Max followed along behind, quickly checking the settings and specs of his jet-ski. Despite the fact that he had just seen the volunteers check it over, he felt better doing a once-over himself.

"Thirty seconds until heat six commences. Engines start up."

That voice came from the loudspeaker, all too quickly drowned out as the sound of four engines started revving. The first set of lights, the red ones at the top of the row, lit up. To the side there was a digital countdown clock but, aside from a quick glance over there by Max, everyone's attention was focused on the lights ahead.

As they waited for the timer to count down, Max began to mentally plot out the path through the course. He'd memorised the path after seeing the first couple of heats and had easily traced a path, mentally noting some of the places where other athletes had run into difficulties. He knew exactly where he needed to go, how fast to approach corners, and also how quickly he needed to get through the course to stand a chance of competing in the final event.

The lights changed to amber and then, five seconds later, to green and all four contestants zoomed out of the gate. Bria Santano sped off into first place, with Thomas View close behind her. Deegan Ennis moved into third place, with Max trailing a little bit behind.

"Keep it close; speed up a little," Berto said over the Bio-Link.

"I know what I'm doing," Max replied, gritting his teeth a little. "I'm not going to call attention to myself; I'm going to stay back here, out of the way." He stubbornly stayed in fourth place, albeit a close forth, and wished that Berto had needed to go radio silent for _this_ event as well.

"If you don't qualify for the next event, we lose our -"

"We lose our agent in the field. I _know._ I was there in meeting upon meeting where I was told this over and over again."

Berto fell silent, but Max could still hear the sounds of typing and some muttered words of annoyance; quite likely once the event was over Max would find their conversation continued. Max pushed that out of his mind, focusing back on the race.

Ennis had increased the lead between him and Max, and Max sped up; Ennis stalling out and wasting valuable time getting the engine re-started allowed Max to slip easily into third place and focused his attention on catching up to the person in second. Santano was still in the lead, pulling ahead of View exceptionally easily and was already round the next corner by the time Max turned in to the approach.

The course continued on, winding around. Just as it began to veer back towards the harbour Max closed in on View, almost clipping the wake as Max veered from left to right to see a good place to overtake. Max found one just before the finish line, speeding up and blazing past View to make it a quick two-three finish for them; Santano had finished herself a good few seconds earlier and was already making her way to the return area. Max glanced over his shoulder to see Ennis finally crossing the finish line, disappointment etched across his face as he looked up at the board displaying their times. The stall-out had cost him dearly, the time he finished with being a time towards the bottom half of the group, leaving him very little chance he'd make it to the final event.

Santano finishing first guaranteed her a position, and Max's time put him solidly in the top eight runner's up, with View near the bottom of the top eight; with a bit of luck View could still make it to the final event if the other runners up posted slower times.

Max revved up his engine and slowly headed over to the return area, noting that Santano had already docked her jet-ski and left. Max pulled up to one of the free docking areas, stifling his surprise when he saw Laura standing by the dock he'd chosen.

"Not bad," she said with a small, quick smile as she and a couple of other volunteers began to help clear up the jet-ski once Max had stood up and started to head back towards the fenced path.

[ - ]

"Your current ranking shows you as ninth out of sixteen, with a qualifying time that is faster than some of the heat winners." Rachel paused as she scanned over the board, seeing the names and times of some of the other competitors. "I suppose with an event like this, that is to be expected; only allowing the fastest sixteen would have the potential of some heat winners not qualifying at all. In that regard it would simply be better to do large races rather than heats."

"Sure," Max muttered, not really paying much attention to what Rachel was saying. He knew his ranking, knew his placement for the final event, everything else was just little additions.

"How are you doing?" she asked, and Max looked up to see her looking at him, a slightly concerned expression on her face.

"I'm fine," Max said with a sigh, leaning back in his chair. "At least after tomorrow I can sink into oblivion. 'Hey, you remember that Max Steel guy who competed in the DOX in two-thousand?' 'Nope.' 'Heck, neither do I.' At least then this mess will be over with."

Rachel simply looked at him. "I would hardly call this a mess."

"Come on, Rachel," Max said, sitting forwards and fixing Rachel with an intense look. "We have no idea who sent the threats - _still_ - and the final amateur competition is tomorrow. The final professional competition is the day after that. We've had no threats since the last one, no indication of any kind of follow-through on said threats. Maybe they just were trying to shut down the DOX but stopped when their threats didn't seem to be doing anything."

"Maybe, but we can't rest easy just yet. We still have the triathlon to attend to tomorrow, and that is going to be quite the complex situation. As opposed to heats where everyone is in mostly the same place, we are going to have sixteen competitors all over Del Oro Bay for the majority of tomorrow, which makes security a much more precarious situation."

"I know, I know." Max glanced at his watch and grimaced. "I need to go; I said to Laura I'd meet up with her tonight. If I'm late, she'll wonder what's up."

"All right, Max. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

[ - ]

There was a minor traffic jam on the main road through Del Oro, delaying Josh more than he would have liked. He finally pulled into the driveway a little before eight, heading through the main door and finding the place completely empty and dark. He flicked on the main light, glancing around to see if Laura was anywhere to be found - when she wasn't, he stepped through to the living room, seeing his answer machine flashing with two messages. Slightly confused, he pressed play and waited for the machine to go through its usual preamble.

"Hi Josh, it's Laura. I've been called in to an early morning meeting for the DOX; because of that I'm not going to be able to make it. I need to do some work tonight which I was going to do tomorrow morning. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon instead."

Josh quickly pondered the thought process of calling a meeting at such short notice. In all likelihood it was something as simple as seeing which of the volunteers would be available to help clean up after the DOX, but the timing was still a bit odd. He quickly put those thoughts out of his mind as the preamble for the second message finished and the next message began to play.

"It's Rachel," the next message began, startling Josh a little. He had turned his Bio-Link off, intending the evening to be a quiet night of no interruptions, but from the sounds of it that wasn't going to happen.

"Another threat has been made against the DOX; this time it has been issued against anyone and everyone who is a part of it, from the athletes all the way down to the volunteers. A meeting has been called for tomorrow morning, although currently only security - both park and INTEC - know the reason behind it.

"It is imperative that you do not miss this meeting tomorrow."

[ - ]

Somehow, Josh managed to pull himself out of bed at six-thirty and go through all the usual morning routines before going in to 'Max mode' and heading over to the sports park. He arrived shortly before eight, mingling in with some seemingly over-enthusiastic volunteers and a couple of other athletes who had also been informed of the early morning meeting. They grouped together, heaving over to the cafeteria and meeting a rather large group of people inside.

Despite the crowd, it was still a fair bit before the scheduled meeting and Max - who had skipped breakfast, choosing to quickly grab some fruit in lieu of dashing over to the sports park - debated about grabbing something to eat from the cafeteria. Some of the people serving the food were already around and ready for business, and by the time Max had decided that, yes, he _did_ need something, got up, and returned to his seat with it, the cafeteria was quickly becoming packed, and it was a struggle for Max to reclaim his seat.

The door opened once again, another mixed group of athletes and volunteers trickling in, this one containing a slightly confused looking Laura. Max tore his gaze away, focusing on something in the middle distance, something he hoped which was an empty space rather than a person. However, he wasn't quick enough to turn his gaze away; Laura had sensed someone watching her and glanced over to see Max, giving him a little wave which he hesitantly returned. A quick glance over at where Max was showed her no empty seats, so instead she headed over to the other side of the cafeteria and settled down in a slightly less crowded area.

By eight thirty the vast majority of people seemed to be present, Max doubting the cafeteria's capacity to hold any more people that were already inside. Rachel had made an appearance somewhere between Laura arriving and now, and she was standing at the front of the cafeteria, business as usual, hands clasped behind her rod-straight back, eyes slowly and casually scanning the cafeteria. She was flanked by a few security guards, them standing a small distance from her but still within reach if something, somehow, happened.

Her eyes flicked over to the cafeteria doors as they opened once more, as did Max's and a number of other people in the room, to see Margaret Osato walking in. She breezed past a number of people before coming to a halt next to Rachel, her eyes quickly scanning the occupants of the room. She quickly spoke to Rachel in a voice too low for other people to hear, even the security guards close by. Max, naturally, her whispers and caught segments of their discussion, but did his best to tune them out by focusing instead on the aimless, random chatter of the other athletes and volunteers in the room.

Margaret stepped forwards, clearing her throat slightly as she did so, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Gradually the noise dissipated and Margaret waited long enough until the noise was barely above a whisper.

"The DOX is officially postponed until further notice."

Any attempts at controlling the volume inside the cafeteria disappeared in vain upon that declaration - people were torn between fury, worry, anxiety, and likely a myriad of other expressions which weren't easily visible on their faces. The random chatter obscured anything and everything Max could have heard easily, it all jumbling into one big mess. Margaret, and by extension Rachel and the security guards, tried to calm everyone and allow silence to resume once again, but it took a good while before the discussions turned into murmurs and then whispers.

"We received another letter late yesterday informing us that, unless the DOX was shut down immediately, then everyone who worked here would be considered under threat. We have also received word that some of the athletes competing in this event, people who had rented a room at the local hotel, have gone missing. We have alerted the authorities and as such their disappearance is being treated as a potential kidnapping.

"All athletes and volunteers are to be secured here in the cafeteria, where you will remain under surveillance. No one will be allowed to enter or leave without permission. If it becomes necessary, you will be escorted back to your homes or hotels and we will post guards in every hotel used by athletes and volunteers.

"This may sound extreme but until we have found the missing athletes, or the person or persons responsible, we cannot afford for anyone to become more of a target than they already are." Margaret paused to scan over the faces of the other people in the room, noting still a lot of shocked faces. "I understand that this news is sudden but security is our primary concern currently, and we can ill afford anything else to threaten the name of the DOX."

[ - ]

The cafeteria was not meant to hold as many people as it did for any decent length of time, and a majority of the people there knew it. Small skirmishes broke out from people wanting a seat or those defending where they currently were, but the majority of people accepted the events and either stayed standing or found a patch on the floor to sit down. As more people opted to sit down movement became a lot more difficult, people going from being able to move around a mass of people to carefully stepping around those that had chosen to sit on the floor.

After the announcement Margaret had left, some of the guards accompanying her but the rest staying behind and either standing guard at the entrance or slowly and carefully patrolling around the cafeteria, assisting people or breaking up the skirmishes.

_Multiple moving targets, a mass of people, all unknown and with unknown qualities constantly standing up, sitting down, moving around..._Max held in a grimace as he watched the situation in front of him, reminding him very strongly of one of the hostage situation simulations Rachel had him run through time and time again until he was close enough to reaching her exacting standards.

"Hey," Laura said, and Max glanced over to see Laura slipping in to an empty space opposite him. Max replied in kind, quickly scanning the cafeteria for the people who had been sitting opposite him previously - the two of them were a few rows down, chatting to someone they knew, smiles on their faces but not quite reaching their eyes.

"You're brave," Max commented as he saw someone slip in to what he presumed was the chair Laura had vacated. "You know there's going to be a huge battle over your seat, right?"

"Let them have it," Laura said with a shrug. "I was getting uncomfortable over there anyway. So," she added, leaning forwards with a ghost of a smile on her face. "How was your first DOX? Everything you ever thought it would be?"

"And more. You know, I was on the plane here thinking 'it'd be great if there was a security concern and the DOX was postponed'. Too unlikely, and yet here we are with the exact same thing happening. Miraculous, isn't it?"

"Very," Laura said, her smile getting a bit larger. She glanced around the room quickly before resettling her gaze on Max. "I do wonder if the Del Oro U volunteers will get a pass on classes for next week if the DOX resumes after a couple of days."

"More likely they'd cancel the event if that occurred."

"Maybe. It'd be a huge annoyance for everyone though, especially the competitors. Bad enough when an event is delayed, even worse when it's cancelled completely."

"I'm not worried," Max said, leaning back in his seat casually. "I did what I came here for - got my name out there, got some people to know who I am, especially after my first event. Competing in the triathlon would have been a bonus, but..." Max shrugged.

"If you say so. I don't think everyone thinks so positively though." Laura allowed herself another glance around the room, startling a little when she saw Rachel heading up to the table. Rachel glanced over at Laura for a second, giving her an almost dismissive look before focusing her attention on Max.

"Can I speak to you privately?" she asked, and turned on her heel and began to head out of the cafeteria without waiting for a response. Max gave Laura a half-apologetic shrug before following Rachel.

Rachel headed a distance from the cafeteria, pausing only when she reached where the walkway split into two, one path heading down to the harbour and the other curving around the now-empty stands. She paused, arms folded across her chest, as she waited for Max to catch up.

"What's the problem?" he asked once he was standing beside her, Rachel's expression unreadable.

"You're officially out of the DOX."

"What?" Max was almost tempted to ask Rachel to repeat what she'd said. "Why? Why now? What's changed?"

"The person who has made these threats has become significantly more volatile and we cannot afford for you to get caught up in this situation anymore."

"Caught up?" Max was trying hard not to glare at Rachel. "You were one of the people who was fully behind this, behind me entering into the DOX. Why the sudden change of heart?"

"You are too valuable as an agent in this mission. We cannot allow you to become the target of someone who is a complete unknown without some kind of assistance or backup.

"Unless we manage to find the perpetrator before the DOX resumes, Max Steel is officially resigning from the competition."

"Don't I get a say in this? What if I _want_ to continue competing?"

Rachel gave him a cool glare. "Then what you _want_ will be in direct conflict with what has been deemed _necessary_."

Max said nothing, but held his gaze with Rachel's for a few seconds. After that, seeing that she wasn't even thinking of backing down he turned around and headed back to the cafeteria, the door swinging wildly as he opened it.

As he'd expected, his seat had been taken over, leaving him with no room. Not a problem as he wasn't planning on staying in the cafeteria for very long didn't need to remain under surveillance.

"Hey," Max said as he approached Laura, doing his best to keep his annoyance out of his voice. She turned around, seeing him and smiled faintly.

"Hey. What was that about?"

Max sighed, drawing out some of his frustration and making it look like he was battling annoyance while he tried to think up a good enough lie. Given what he'd been just told, that wasn't too difficult.

"I'm out of the DOX."

"What, why?"

Max glanced around before stepping closer and crouching down, resting an arm on the table for balance. "Turns out they were lying when they said a threat had been levied against all people working and competing here. There was, but a few athletes were specifically named, and I was one of them. Shutting down the DOX I can deal with, but having a threat specifically against me?" Max shook his head. "I can't deal with that."

[ - ]

Rachel had returned to the cafeteria not long as Max, and she was currently engaged in a phone call. To the general observer, it didn't look anything major, but Max could tell from the slight tightening of her mouth, the very faint frown and crease in her forehead, that the news wasn't good. She finished her call, snapping her cell phone shut and gave a quick glance over the people in the cafeteria. One of the security guards stepped over to her and exchanged a few words, Rachel replying and nodding at what they were saying.

Max got up from where he had been leaning against the side of the cafeteria and walked over to Rachel, murmuring "Bad news?" when he was within earshot.

"Not entirely; the missing athletes have been found."

Okay, so not bad news, just potentially confusing instead. "Where?"

"In their hotel rooms with food poisoning. The people who found them haven't investigated in detail, but from initial investigations it looks like deliberate targeting. None of the athletes had eaten the same foods; there is some overlap between them but no common food which could explain their condition. Unless the food ended up being cross-contaminated it looks likely that someone laced their food."

"Not to mention, if it was cross-contamination a lot more than just them would be affected." Max glanced around the room. "A number of people here should have been affected as well, yet all we've got are three ill athletes in their hotel room."

"Indeed. This does give us more of a suspicion over who the person trying to close down the DOX may be."

"Who?"

"It's possible that someone in this room is the suspect; alternatively, the person who laced the food may have simply been capitalising on the danger surrounding the DOX. That is assuming the culprit is simply one person - if there are two or more people working collaboratively, we may find one suspect amongst the volunteers or athletes while the others are a distance away sending out the threats."

"So, what, do we investigate every single person in this room?"

"Most likely, yes," Rachel said, as if the idea of interviewing hundreds of people was an easy matter. Max simply sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "It's highly unlikely that any INTEC employees will be cooperating with the person sending out the threats, so we can put those as requiring the lowest priority. We'll be leading the investigations and trying to get through as many people as possible."

"Does that include me?"

Rachel glanced over at Max before answering. "Perhaps. You suddenly going from athlete to interviewer may raise a few questions. For now, stay to the side and keep quiet. I or someone else will let you know if you're needed later."

"Fun never stops," Max muttered to himself as Rachel walked off, beginning to coordinate the first of the interviews.

[ - ]

Max winced and rolled his neck, unsurprised when he heard a couple of pops. He'd settled back into a seat at the back of the cafeteria, watching as various people were led out and then back in to the building. Laura had been one of the first people to be interviewed and came back looking a bit annoyed but otherwise fine. Max did have to wonder if her being one of the first was random or hedging their bets.

He snuck a glance at the clock, seeing that only a couple of hours had passed and, by his reckoning, they'd gone through about a tenth of the total people - a much quicker pace that he'd anticipated, but it still meant it would be at least a couple of days before they got through everyone and he wondered just how they'd arrange sleeping arrangements.

The camera crews and those associated with them - Woody, Orrin, Michaela, and Lloyd - had been left out of the rounding up and subsequent interviews, and for a split second Max wished that he was outside with them rather than stuck inside.

"N-Tek really is pathetic, isn't it?"

At that voice, Max's head shot up and he glanced around the cafeteria, trying to find the source. That was easy - Woody's grinning face filled the large screen on the far wall, drawing everyone's attention. He laughed, the sound loud and echoing around the cafeteria. "'Oh no, someone's attacking the athletes! Let's get everyone but the camera crews secured away in the cafeteria!' You never, ever thought the presenters could be the problem?"

"Woody," Max muttered to himself. "What's he up to?"

"Of course, you're probably wondering what once-DOX champion could want from N-Tek?" Woody stood up, leaning forwards against the camera. "_Compensation_. I was once a champion - once! Then N-Tek decided I was too big a star, too damaging to their potential income and too _threatening_ to new athletes. So what happens? The next time I enter a competition, they give me a damaged bike, ensuring that I'd break my leg and have to retire from the competition!

"It's a disgrace! I could have signed multiple sponsorships! I could have made N-Tek more of a household name than it already is, but instead they chose to risk their money on a complete unknown!

"I could have been a star, but N-Tek was too worried about me stealing the spotlight that they decided to get rid of me!" Woody seemed to settle down, sitting back in his chair and a self-assured smile on his face. During his rant he had gotten closer and closer to the camera and now settled back in, trying to look more composed.

"My demands, for this disgrace," he continued, "Is the complete shut-down of the DOX. I don't want it shut down for the rest of the year; I want it shut down permanently! If I am not allowed to become a star of it, then no one is.

"I also want all of the people who work for the damned N-Tek to move themselves in front of Mount Zirkle; if I find that even one employee decided not to act against my wishes, there will be _severe_ repercussions.

"I want every single N-Tek employee in front of Mount Zirkle in fifteen minutes; no hesitating, no dawdling, no kind of backtalk whatsoever!" With that, the screen switched off, returning to its usual black background with the DOX logo bright and in the centre. A slow murmur started up, the occupants of the cafeteria still confused over to what was going to happen.

Naturally, within a few minutes of the end of the broadcast various security people had returned to the cafeteria, Margaret making another appearance for an impromptu meeting. Given that a large proportion of the N-Tek employees were assigned as security (and a large number of those were also INTEC agents, albeit unknown to the general public) there was little debate about whether or not they would comply with Woody's demands. Once they were where Woody wanted them, there'd be a good chance they'd be able to find and intercept him.

"You're not going," Rachel said quietly as Max approached her, a firm expression on her face. Max, to his credit, looked at least a little confused.

"I'm an N-Tek employee; we have no idea what Woody will do if one of us is missing. Do you want to risk things?"

"No. We're not going to risk things. As far as Woody knows you as simply a competitor in the DOX. Outside of a handful of people in this room and back at base, no one knows your affiliation with N-Tek, let alone be regarded as an employee. You'll be far better off waiting and cooperating with the back-up team." She smiled a rare smile. "You don't have any abilities to get close to the situation without being discovered, after all."

It took Max a second to process what Rachel had said, but when he had he returned her smile.

[ - ]

"You ready, _hermano_?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," Max replied quietly, waiting some distance away from the other N-Tek employees. He'd risked low transphasic levels and had activated the probes' stealth function almost as soon as he'd walked out of the cafeteria. Now, he was playing a waiting game with the Red Wind blimp.

Fortunately, he didn't have long to wait; within a couple of minutes a large shadow covered Mount Zirkle and the surrounding area and, once landed, the people on the ground were ushered into the blimp.

"Can you zoom in on the weapons they're carrying?" Berto said, and Max obliged: from a distance they had seemed to be carrying guns, but zoomed in they had silver-coloured attachments on the side, and the barrels had been covered with arrow-like protrusions.

"Any idea what they could be?" Max asked, creeping forwards, trying to balance speed with silence.

"I have no idea. I would suggest that they look dangerous and to avoid them if possible, but I'd be concerned that I would be stating the obvious."

Max slipped in through the entrance of the blimp just before it closed behind him; looking around, the walkways were devoid of people, but he wasn't about to chance deactivating his stealth function just yet.

Unfortunately, the walkway he was currently on was made up of metal gratings, forcing Max to creep along as slowly as he could.

"What's that to your left?" Berto asked, and Max swung his head around in the indicated direction. A faint red light was visible, and upon closer inspection it turned out to be one of the many video cameras that had been placed on the blimp.

"I think I may have a solution to our problem," Max quietly muttered, glancing around before walking back to the main walkway.

"And that would be…?"

"Wait and see, bro. Wait and see."

[ - ]

About twenty minutes later, as the Red Wind blimp was drifting over Del Oro Bay, Max finally managed to make it into the cockpit. To Max's surprise, the only things in the cockpit were video cameras - to be expected, as they had been littered around the blimp - and the only person Max could see in the room was Woody, lying back in the main seat, watching Del Oro drift by.

Max had managed to sneak in when one of Woody's people had walked out, slipping through the door before it closed on him. Max crept over to a couple of the video cameras, flicked a couple of buttons and, after making sure that he was out of sight, deactivated his stealth function.

He walked up to Woody, took a deep breath and tapped him a couple of times on the shoulder. Surprised, Woody jumped and twisted around, shock on his face when he saw that Max was right behind him.

After a couple of seconds' hesitation, Woody scrabbled out of his chair and tried to dash across the cockpit; Max was faster, and had already gotten to the intercom he assumed Woody was aiming for before Woody was even halfway across the room.

"Were you wanting to use this?" Max asked, placing a hand on top of the metal case. Without waiting for an answer, he ripped the casing off, grabbed a bunch of wires and pulled them out. "Oh, sorry, it appears to be down for maintenance. Try again later."

"Th-there's no way you're just an athlete. Who are you, who're you -" Woody paused, glancing behind him to make sure no one else had appeared out of nowhere. "You work for N-Tek, don't you?"

"No, I am an athlete - N-Tek's just a part time job." Max grinned at Woody, hoping to unnerve him before running back across the room. Drawing back an arm, Max aimed a punch at Woody's chest, but the latter dove behind a seat, causing damage to the metal frame but shielding himself from any major damage.

The rest of the battle continued much in the same vein: Max attempting to land a hit on Woody, while Woody ran from item to item, using them to shield himself. It seemed to work reasonably well, until Woody ran out of items to use.

"All right, all right! I give in, I surrender!" Woody said, cowering beside the flight control panel, looking utterly miserable. He held his hands out, holding his wrists together, expecting Max to slap on a pair of handcuffs and be done with everything.

"Why'd you do this?" Max said, and Woody began to fume.

"Why? Why? Weren't you listening to my broadcast earlier? N-Tek took away everything that was important to me: I was a star, a huge star, but they couldn't handle it, couldn't handle the fame I had.

"They had to get rid of me, and they did it in one of the most cowardly ways they could think of: give me a faulty bike and force me to crash!"

"Woody, you're dreaming. I saw the event; there was nothing there that wasn't cause by anything other than bad technique."

"It's a conspiracy! N-Tek dragged me down, and no other company wanted to help me - they forced me into retirement!"

"I'd hardly call it a retirement if you're still able to compete."

"Compete? That's a laugh. No one wants to know about me - I've not been able to enter a competition in two years."

"And before that, you hadn't placed on the podium in _any_ event in three years." Max grabbed Woody by the arm and hauled him to his feet. "You can't keep blaming your own failure on other people."

"But I can if other people have caused my failure! Once I failed at the DOX, oh, that was it, no one wanted to hear from Woody Bartowski ever again!"

Max groaned; he was beginning to get a headache. He roughly pushed Woody in to the seat in front of the controls, and almost felt like yelling when Woody looked up at him with a confused expression on his face.

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to land the blimp in front of Mount Zirkle. I want you to let all of N-Tek's employees go. I want you to hand yourself and your accomplices in to the police. I _do not_ want any attempts at escape or trying to outsmart anyone. Understood?"

Woody nodded, and took control of the blimp, Max watching his every move with caution. Gradually, the bay grew in size, and after a while a soft thud indicated that the blimp had landed.

Max breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the uniforms of the Del Oro Police Department surrounding the now-grounded blimp; he hazarded a guess that either Berto or one of the volunteers or athletes had called the police, and for once he was grateful for civilian interference.

"Go on, tell your guards to stand down and to walk peacefully out of the blimp. I'll take care of N-Tek."

Once again, Woody nodded and disappeared off down the blimp, Max waiting for a few seconds before activating the stealth function and following him. Thankfully, Woody knew when he was likely to cause more problems by resisting arrest, and soon there was a small trickle of people walking out of the blimp, hands behind their heads. Once Woody, the last person to leave, had been arrested, Max went in search of the hostages, deactivating the stealth function as he did so.

[ - ]

A few hours later, after statements had been taken and the vast majority of people had decided to head home, Rachel found Max standing in front of the bay, watching the setting sun. She stood a distance away, debating whether or not to disturb him, and was just about to turn and walk away when Max decided to acknowledge her existence.

"Hey," he said, turning his head and looking at Rachel.

"Why haven't you started to head home? Laura left half an hour ago, won't she be suspicious if you're not home?"

"She went back to her dorm room; said something about needing to relax after today's events." Max gave Rachel a weak smile before turning back to look at the ocean. "I'm not going to be competing in the triathlon tomorrow."

Rachel was silent for a few seconds before her mind could think up the right words to say. "Aren't they going to be expecting you to compete?"

"They won't miss one competitor; I'm actually expecting that a number of athletes will have dropped out by the time the triathlon starts tomorrow."

"So you're not even going to attempt it?"

"What's the point? Bad guy's captured; I'm no longer needed to compete." He turned to look at Rachel. "I'd better get home."

[ - ]

The next morning, all had been set up for the triathlon; as Max had predicted, four athletes, including himself, had withdrawn from the competition citing personal issues. After a quick re-working of the heats into two groups of six competitors, the final day of the DOX continued as normal. Coverage was still being shown on LiveSport - despite the one day delay, they were still happy enough to allow full coverage of the event, and Orrin seemed to be fine with being the only presenter on the show.

A rumour had been going around that LiveSport had tried to enlist Josh McGrath as a temporary presenter, but no one had been able to contact him in time for him to be asked. Even Josh himself didn't know if that rumour was true, and he was happy enough just relaxing on the sofa watching the events on the TV.

At least, he was until one of the DOX organizers had called, asking for Max.

[ - ]

Max softly sighed as he leaned back against the wall; the DOX awards ceremony looking about as formal as it was on television. Masses of people were milling around, some previous competitors, the majority spectators, but all kept behind the podium and at a safe distance - for the winning athletes, at any rate.

Near the back, where Max was standing, numerous reporters and cameras were hurriedly setting up, doing sound checks and testing recordings before the ceremony started. The majority of the stations there were local, with a couple more distant but still within state boundaries. As Max looked, one woman did a test run, watched the footage back on the camera, and gave a thumbs up to the person filming.

Much nearer the front, Orrin stood in front of yet another video camera, microphone held up to his face and lips moving quickly; as Max concentrated, he could hear Orrin running through and narrating the events of the past few days for anyone who might have been tuning in only to see the final awards ceremony.

The general murmurings of the crowd, mingling with the chatter from the reporters, made it a little tricky for Max to actually focus and filter out the background noise, but once he'd concentrated on Orrin's voice it all became incredibly easy; if only shutting out all noise would come so easily to him, Max mused.

Rachel sidled up to Max, leaning back against the wall and waiting for him to notice her arrival.

"Area is secure," she said as soon as Max looked over at her. "Majority of people have been dismissed, a handful still remain as security. No more threats have been made, and we will remain around for the next day as a precaution."

"Sure," Max said, looking back towards the podium. The reporters had all finished up their tests and were intently focusing on the front of the room as Orrin finished his speech and turned to look towards the podium. The three athletes stepped into view, standing behind the podium in their respective positions.

"Jerald Wixon."

The third-place athlete stepped up onto the podium, giving the cameras a short wave before being given his medal. The same repeated with second place Dawson Hui, and then in first place...

"Rudy Renfro."

Max's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched Rudy stand on the first place position, grinning wickedly. He accepted his gold medal, holding it out in front of him and gesturing to it.

"His long-awaited gold," Max muttered to himself before sighing. "Do you know why the athletes were asked to come back?" he said, turning to look at Rachel.

"I don't." Rachel kept her focus on scanning the room, leaving little time to look at and acknowledge Max. "A photo opportunity, perhaps? Maybe they wanted a pictorial record of the athletes who competed this year."

"Maybe," Max said, folding his arms across his chest and watching as the winning athletes stepped down off the podium. Rudy was immediately swarmed with requests for an interview which, after a moment, he accepted; Wixon and Hui were more accommodating, already chatting to some reporters by the time Rudy chose to do the same. "Feels like rubbing salt in the wound to me."

"It hurts, doesn't it?"

"Yeah." Max glanced back up as Hui walked past them, through the secure area for the athletes, not even pausing to throw a glance at some of the lesser-known reporters and news channels.

"You know you're better than them, but people keep overlooking you. Whether that's deliberate or accidental, it still stings. Makes you wonder if you should even bother."

Max looked over at Rachel, raising an eyebrow for a split-second. "I could have bested them, even without the mx abilities. Of course, now that I have them I can't switch them off. Can't compete fairly. Always need to keep a check on myself, ensure I'm not doing too good but still good enough for a competition. It used to be about fun, adrenaline, seeing if I could push myself that little bit further, go a little faster, see if I could break a personal record. Now? I can beat the best of them without even trying. It's..." Max sighed.

"Unfair?"

Max nodded, turning his gaze away again. He felt light pressure on his shoulder and looked back, seeing Rachel's hand on his shoulder, confused.

" Just because you can't compete against others, it doesn't mean you have to give it up entirely. You can still enjoy it on your own accord, surely?"

Max paused for a moment. "Perhaps." _Berto's trying to work on a solution,_ he wanted to comment, but held himself back. Rachel wouldn't understand anyway.

Rachel's gaze flickered over Max's shoulder, and an expression of slight concern crossed her face. Her hand dropped to by her side, and Max glanced over to see what Rachel had seen.

Laura, looking at the two of them, expression seemingly torn between surprise and something Max couldn't quite figure out. She saw that the two of them were looking at her, a slight blush creeping across her cheeks. She muttered something to the person standing next to her before she turned on her heel and walked out of the room.

"What was that about?" Max said to himself, watching as the person Laura had been with chose to follow her out.

"If I were to hazard a guess, I would be inclined to think Laura may have a crush on Max. She has been quite interested in you over the course of the DOX."

"But I'm..." Max began, before catching himself. He groaned. "This secret identity stuff is going to drive me nuts."


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Phew, editing this went right down to the wire. Life took a hectic turn for me earlier this month when I had to say goodbye to my cat of almost fifteen years - it's had an effect on my writing but shouldn't affect publication of these chapters (I'm about finishing off a draft of chapter 30 and can see the end in sight).

Chapter Fourteen:

Josh laughed to himself softly as he looked out over the indoor ice skating rink; he was taking a quick break and resting on the seats surrounding the rink. Laura was on the inside circle, speeding past a lot of people as she did another complete circuit of the rink; by comparison, Pete and Sylvia were in a semi-secluded around of the rink, Pete attempting to pull off some impressive-looking moves but failing more often than not, resulting in Sylvia having to help him back up onto his feet.

"What're you doing here?" Laura said as she skidded to a halt at one of the rink exits, quickly stepping from the ice onto the concrete floor surrounding the rink.

"Taking a break," Josh said, looking past her to keep an eye on Pete and Sylvia. Sylvia tried to twirl, an action Pete had tried to show her earlier, and she almost made it all the way around before she stumbled, slipping on the ice and knocking into the person skating next to her. She and the other person managed to stay upright, and Sylvia murmured a quick apology.

"How's work going?" Laura asked as she settled into the seat next to Josh, she too keeping an eye on Pete and Sylvia.

"Oh, you know, it's going all right. Mostly boring office work, sorting paper and what-not."

"You mean you don't have a team of five assistants to do your work for you?" Laura said with a smile, one which Josh returned as he looked at her.

"Not yet; I don't get those assistants for another five years. Still, at least I'm getting paid."

"Mmm." Laura nodded. "Are you still able to attend my brother's wedding next month?"

"Of course," Josh said, his smile growing wider. "Booked the time off as soon as I started working."

"I bet a few people weren't too happy about that."

"I imagine not. New employee, CEO's son, and as soon as I start work I book time off."

"A nice vacation in Shanghai."

"I'm not sure I'd call it a vacation," Josh muttered, the lightness in his voice now gone. "I just wonder how David's going to act."

"It'll be fine," Laura said. "David's not exactly going to cause strife at his own wedding; it'd reflect badly on everyone involved if he did."

"Hopefully," Josh manages to say before two people crash into the barrier opposite them; looking up, he saw Pete and Sylvia both grinning down at him and Laura.

"Come on, guys, we're not paying for you two to sit around and chat," Pete said as he wobbled his way to the rink exit, Sylvia looking about as unsteady as him. The two made their way out of the rink without falling over and they collapsed into seats nearby.

"So, McGrath, midterms coming up. How much have you been studying?" Josh groaned. "That well, huh?"

"You can say that again. Between attending class and working, I'm finding very little time to myself, let alone time to think about studying." Josh turned to look at Sylvia. "How're you doing?"

"I'm managing," she said with a shrug. "I'm not taking any difficult classes this semester so I can relax a little. A few of my classes are just coursework and no exams."

"Lucky," Josh said, albeit with a smile. "I won't be this easy for too long."

"Which is why I'm enjoying it as much as I can right now."

The four chatted for a bit longer before Pete and Sylvia decided to head back onto the rink; a few minutes later Josh and Laura decided to rejoin them, but Josh sighed to himself as the sound of a pager beeping cut through their conversation.

"You carry your pager around with you?" Sylvia asked from where she looked over her shoulder.

"N-Tek is a twenty-four hour organization; _someone_ has to be available at all times." He looked down at the pager, keeping his face neutral. "Sorry, guys, need to go."

"All right," Laura said, looking a little disappointed. "We've still got thirty minutes here, so we're going to make the most of that time. I'll see you in class tomorrow?"

"Sure. Sorry," Josh added, looking over at Pete and Sylvia.

"No prob," Pete said, although the look in his eyes said differently. "Gotta get used to it, right?"

"Yeah," Josh said, pocketing his pager and walking back to the changing room.

[ - ]

"What's the emergency?" Max asked as he walked through the entrance of the ops room, seeing both Berto and Rachel watching the monitors. Berto kept his eyes glued to the screen while Rachel looked over her shoulder and nodded a greeting at Max. Max walked towards the screens, and without waiting for any response, Berto started playing a video. Blurry, in greyscale and from a fixed vantage point, the security camera panned over the floor of a bank: tellers sorting money, customers queuing up and waiting for their turn to deposit or take out money, tellers attending to the customers, some customers milling around…in short, a normal scene from a normal bank.

A couple of people walked through the entrance and stood at the back of the queue, and Berto sped up the scene. A few seconds later the two people were at the front of the queue, and were soon standing in front of one of the tellers. Now not obscured by any other customers, the fact that one was carrying a bag was visible, and the other one handed a folded note through the small opening in the window. The teller opened the note, paused for a few seconds, and then proceeded to open the cash point and take out some money.

"They requested ten thousand dollars; estimates are that they only managed to obtain half of this amount due to limited funds in the cash point," Rachel said as the two people walked out of the bank, and the video looped around to the beginning.

"They're just a couple of bank robbers, why does INTEC need to get involved?"

"Because it's not just them," Berto said, stepping in before Rachel could reply. Typing in a few commands, videos started appearing on the other screens in the room, all from different banks, all with time and location stamps, and all involving bank robberies occurring within ten minutes, either side, of the robbery already seen.

"A couple of the notes described themselves as members of an organization called Mercury Brigade. We had received information on plans for national bank robberies, and while not all the information panned out, some of the banks that were targeted were ones we had alerted to the potential incident."

The video on the main screen disappeared, and was replaced by a map of the United States, three blinking red dots with vectors indicated predicted journey direction. A fourth, larger and unblinking dot was on the west coast; the journey vectors of the four blinking dots connected directly to the fourth dot.

"San Francisco," Rachel said just before Max was able to ask his question. "Home of the National Union Bank, and we estimate this is where they're heading. Mercury Brigade managed to rob twenty banks, of which three were able to place trackers in the money before the robbers walked off. At a conservative estimate, they are carrying one hundred thousand dollars.

"This group," Rachel continued, pointing to the nearest red dot, "originated in Denver, Colorado, and is the closest of the known Mercury Brigade members. At their current position, they are approximately eight hours' drive away from San Francisco."

"What do you suppose they're planning on doing in San Francisco?" Max said, and Berto shrugged.

"The National Union Bank is, for California at least, the bank for the wealthy to keep their money safe. With the amount of money we estimate they have, they would not be able to open an account, but we don't know if they have any extra money saved up to make up the money to open an account."

"The other possibility," Rachel added, leading on from Berto, "Is that they also plan to rob this bank. Monetary reserves are low because of precisely this reason, but stealing even a modest amount of money would draw a significant amount of attention to both themselves and the bank.

"Of course, we only have suspicion that they're heading to the National Union Bank; while their current travel paths indicate that they're planning on heading in to San Francisco, they could also head to any other town or city on the west coast."

"Other agents are on call and have been dispatched to other notable banks in the area. Given Rachel's, uh, background, Mairot has stated that the two of you will be keeping an eye on the National Union Bank." Berto chanced a glance at Rachel, but her expression remained unreadable.

"Background?" Max asked, looking confused.

"It's not important; just follow my lead," Rachel said. "We've got a little under eight hours to get ready and head into San Francisco; the bank opens at eight in the morning and we need to ensure we're there when it opens.

"It's approximately four hours to San Francisco; we'll be there by the early hours of the morning if we leave within the hour."

_Night driving, great,_ Max thought to himself. "I suppose there's not going to be any argument to leaving early next morning?"

"There's not. All the other agents have been sent to their respective areas; we're the last team to leave."

"All right, what do I need to know about the National Union Bank?" At Max's question, Berto brought up exterior shots of the building, and also a brief history of ownership. Rachel spoke as Max read the information.

"National Union Bank is, as already mentioned, the preserve of the wealthy. The minimum monetary value to open an account is two million dollars; anything less is not considered worthy of their consideration. They have some of the best security teams and most up-to-date security systems of banks in the United States - to be expected, given the wealth of their clients.

"Our cover will be to act as two people who wish to open up an account with them - the manager has been informed of the situation, and our account should be closed shortly after leaving."

"And if not?"

"We'll just have to take a return trip, ask for the manager, and get the account closed ourselves. The manager has also been informed to be on the lookout for marked bills, in case members of the Mercury Brigade manage to avoid detection."

"Jessica's got your cover stories," Berto said, turning his chair around and looking at Max. "Make sure you take notice of what it says this time, Max."

"Hey, nothing went wrong," Max said. "Sure, it didn't go as it should have done, but I completed the mission without any major problems."

"You two can continue the conversation over the bio-link; right now, we need to get our information and start heading to San Francisco." Rachel turned on her heel and walked out of the room, Max following soon after.

"Do you own a suit?" Rachel asked as they walked down the corridor, catching Max slightly off guard.

"Uh…yes?" he said hesitantly. "I own a suit. Why?"

"Given that this bank is a place specifically for millionaires to place their money, I suspect they may have had a few people walk in wearing jeans and t-shirts. However, I doubt it'd make the right impression for someone intending to open an account. This means -"

"I'd need to wear a suit. Yes, Rache, I own a suit."

"We'll need to pick it up on the way; I'll need to get some clothing from my apartment, too." Rachel paused by the lab and knocked on the ajar door. A dark-haired woman looked up from what she was doing, looked back at her work, then realised who was at the door and quickly slipped off her chair and headed towards the door.

"Rachel, Max," Jessica said, waving them in. Rachel stepped through the doorway but Max hesitated. "Max, I promise there's nothing in here that'll do you any damage." Not entirely convinced, Max stepped through and waited beside Rachel.

"Doctor Martinez said you had some information for us," Rachel said.

"…Do I? Oh, the mission information. Yes, just let me find it." Jessica disappeared for a couple of minutes before returning, two manila envelopes in her hand. "It's not much - it was pretty much cobbled together on a last-minute basis - but it should be enough to fool the bank."

"Thanks, Doctor Palmieri." Rachel took the envelopes with a smile, before walking out of the room. "If what I suspect is true, we'll only need to be taking one car. I would suggest your sports car; however, I don't think it offers much in the way of cover, especially if someone recognizes it."

"Come on, what're the odds that someone would recognize my car?"

"A restored Mustang? It's a -"

"A restored 1968 Mustang _GT-390 Fastback_, I'll have you know."

"Regardless, it's a relatively rare car - even if people didn't link it to Josh McGrath, it'd certainly be noticed. We can't afford to draw attention to ourselves."

"And pretending to be millionaires will allow us to blend right in," Max said sarcastically.

"Oddly enough, mister Steel, in this situation it will."

[ - ]

It was almost nine in the evening when Max pulled up to Rachel's apartment; one building in a large, imposing-looking complex with the mountain range on their right, and a small, artificially-created lake in front of the buildings.

"Do I want to know how much your rent is on this place?" Max asked, looking up at the buildings. It wasn't too far from Wipeout - and thus wasn't too far from where he lived - but considering the views that people potentially got, Max expected that to cancel out the effects of Wipeout on the area.

"A lot less than you're thinking," Rachel said, taking off her seatbelt. "You're staying here while I go and get my clothes."

"What, do you not trust me?" Max said with a grin, and Rachel took a deep breath. "I promise I won't snoop around your apartment."

"All right," Rachel said, opening the passenger-side door. Max opened the driver's side door and got out, walking behind Rachel as she walked over to the apartment entrance, opened the door and headed towards the elevators.

"What made you live here?" Max asked after Rachel had pressed the elevator call button. "Reasonable rent or not, INTEC's probably still cheaper."

"Even though the rooms are separate, I doubt I could live in a place where there was a lot of people - I value privacy and quiet too much. I'm not like Doctor Martinez or Doctor Palmieri where I can seemingly ignore my surroundings." The elevator arrived, doors sliding open and Rachel stepped inside, pressing the button for the fifth floor. Max quickly slipped in beside her, and the two of them were silent until the elevator shuddered to a halt at the fifth floor.

Rachel's apartment was on the left of the elevator, and the second apartment on the right. Taking her key out of her pocket, she unlocked the door and stepped through, confidently walking off to the right to what Max assumed was her bedroom. True to his word, Max didn't snoop - he just stayed near the front door and looked around at the living room and kitchen.

One main thing he noticed was that the apartment was very sparse: aside from a couple of abstract paintings and a piano by the balcony doors, the entirety of the room was either beige or silver. The furniture was all neatly arranged, with seemingly no more than Rachel needed: a small two-seater sofa in front of a small television set; a breakfast bar with two seats, a kitchen with a small fridge and cooker.

Max looked at his watch and noted that only a couple of minutes had passed and, after considering for a moment, he chanced his luck by walking over to where the piano was placed. Like the rest of the room it was spotless and dust-free, although as Max drew closer he could see a couple of small cracks in the wood and parts of the wood looked as if they had been bleached.

The creaking of floorboards draw Max's attention away from the piano, and turned around to see Rachel watching him with a slightly amused look on her face.

"Did I imagine you promising that you wouldn't snoop?" Rachel said, and Max looked slightly embarrassed. Rachel had hung a dark green dress on the door to the bedroom, and a small suitcase was lying in the doorway.

"Is it snooping if I'm looking at something that's in plain sight?" Max managed to say, and Rachel walked closer. "Do you play the piano?"

"Not as much as I used to, and not as much as I'd like, but yes, I play the piano. It's not in the best of conditions," she added, coming to a halt next to Max, "but it's what I could afford at the time." She turned to look at Max, and after a couple of seconds he turned to look at her. "I assume you packed everything you thought you'd need?" she said, and Max nodded. "Then we're ready to go."

Rachel walked over to where she'd placed the suitcase, took her dress off the door, folded it, opened the suitcase and placed her dress inside. Snapping it shut, she picked it up and started heading towards the door, pulling her keys out of her pocket. Realizing that Max hadn't followed her, she turned around to see him still looking at the piano.

"Max, we can't afford to waste time." Max snapped out of his daze, looked up at her and walked towards the door. With a deftness that only comes from practise, Rachel locked her front door and was halfway to the elevators before Max could clear his mind.

[ - ]

As Rachel had predicted, upon opening her envelope, the first thing that dropped out was a ring. Opening Max's for him (as he was driving) a similar ring dropped out.

"Married?" Max asked.

"I predicted as much." Rachel scanned through the rest of her document. "Our names are Daniel and Isabel Cutter-Mattison, twenty-three and twenty-six, respectively.

"Money earned through a combination of work and investments - stocks and shares, mainly, and any money gained was re-invested almost immediately."

"Risky," Max said, keeping his eyes on the road.

"It may be, but it's not impossible to accomplish." Rachel continued reading through the cover story they had been given, but there was nothing more about their characters; a couple of credit cards had been slipped into Rachel's envelope, along with a check book. Flicking through the check book, she noted that the first one had been filled out as a deposit to the tune of two million dollars.

"It's a good thing we're not expected to find that money anywhere," Max said, checking his mirrors before indicating right and heading onto the highway. "I doubt INTEC has two million just lying around."

"Most likely if they are expecting the money, it'd be transferred from another account, and the account we're creating will be closed when the money is taken out again." Rachel flicked through the other sheets of paper, reading small details - birth date, parents' names - that she might be called upon to know in an emergency, before reading Max's information out to him.

"Got it," Max said once Rachel had finished reading the information out. "Not much, is there?"

"They were in a rush," Rachel said as she put the information back in the envelopes. "I doubt they keep a list of potential aliases and background to pull out at a moment's notice." Rachel looked down at the clock in the car, and suppressed a sigh when she saw that they'd only been on the road for half an hour.

[ - ]

The two of them arrived at the hotel a little before one in the morning, and picked up the keys which had been left for them from a very annoyed-looking receptionist. Going along with their cover, it was one of the more expensive hotels in the area, and the money he'd been given should, Rachel hoped, have made up for the inconvenience.

Of course, one thing both Rachel and Max should have expected, being that they had been booked into a hotel room as a married couple, was that they had been booked in to a double room.

"Well, this is going to prove interesting," Rachel said, letting the door close behind her. Placing her suitcase beside the door, she walked further into the room to have a look around. "One bed, one sofa," Rachel commented, and Max walked up to check the room also.

"I'll take the sofa," Max said, throwing his own suitcase onto the piece of furniture, as if to claim ownership. "I'll go and change in the bathroom." He opened his suitcase and pulled out some clothes before disappearing into the bathroom, locking the door behind him.

Rachel sighed; an argument over sleeping arrangements would hardly be worth it and, after getting changed herself, placed a couple of pillows from the bed and a spare blanket on the sofa.

Josh walked out of the bathroom a couple of minutes later; Rachel brushed past him and into the bathroom. She closed the door behind her, taking a few deep breaths and willing the hairs on the back of her neck to stop standing on end.

[ - ]

The next morning, Josh was up and awake at five-thirty and woke Rachel up when he started shaving, the sound creeping through the closed bathroom door. Their hotel was a reasonable distance from the bank, even factoring in driving, thus necessitating the early start. A couple of minutes after Rachel woke up, Max walked through the bathroom door, noticed that Rachel was awake, and pointed to the bathroom with his thumb.

"Bathroom's all yours," he said, walking over to his suitcase. He grabbed a jacket and a tie from it, threw the jacket onto the back of the sofa and begun to fight with the tie. After a good minute, Max realized that Rachel had yet to move, and when he looked up Rachel had barely moved from where she was on the bed, a small smile on her face.

"Seeing as you seem to be gaining so much enjoyment from watching me, Ms Leeds, you can help."

"If you insist," Rachel said. She slipped out of bed and walked over to Max, and within the span of about thirty seconds, had finished tying Max's tie. "There," she added, turning back to grab her dress from her suitcase.

"You know," Max said, "I never envisioned you wearing pyjamas."

"What did you envision me wearing?" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted saying them. Doubly so when she looked back and saw an evil smirk on Max's face.

"I always imagined you as a skimpy nightdress kind of person."

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that," Rachel said, grabbing various items and walking over to the bathroom. "We need to be leaving here in approximately two hours, so be sure you're ready on time."

"I'm not the one still in nightwear."

Rachel said nothing in reply, instead closing the door and beginning to get ready. Clothes, hair clips, make-up, shoes, jewellery…as she put on more and more items, she was fairly glad that going all-out was a rare occurrence, and not the everyday expectations it had been when she was younger.

Of course, the one thing she had found irritating when younger was still an issue now. Unlocking the door, necklace in hand, she looked out and saw Max packing away his clothing in the suitcase.

"Max? I need help putting a necklace on," she said, walking out of the bathroom and holding out the offending article. Max glanced up at her and seemed lost for a few moments before he found his voice.

"Uh, sure," he said, taking the necklace from her hand. Rachel turned around and Max affixed the necklace around her neck, seemingly oblivious to the goosebumps appearing on Rachel's skin

"Done," Max said after a few moments, pulling his hands away. Rachel looked over her shoulder at him. "Anything else?"

"That's it," Rachel said. "I'd better continue getting ready."

[ - ]

Max and Rachel pulled up outside of the bank ten minutes before it was due to open, and to their interest saw that they weren't the only people outside. A handful of people were milling around, the vast majority still seated in their cars, and Max quickly flicked on the radio after putting the handbrake on. He dialled the volume down to a level just detectable by Rachel, and relaxed back into his seat.

"Got your communicator?" Max asked, and Rachel nodded. Unlike Max, who had a communicator all-but built in, all agents had a microphone/pseudo-speaker system which clipped on to a back molar. The basic premise was that the microphone picked up whatever the person was saying, and the pseudo-speaker sent vibrations along the jawbone, which would be picked up by the ear and translated into speech. The more complex premise Max had mistakenly asked one of the lab workers to explain to him, and he'd managed to gloss over what they were saying after a matter of seconds.

The bank opened its doors at two minutes to eight, by Max's watch, and the two of them stayed in the car a little longer to allow the parking lot to clear out. After a quick check of her makeup - and a warning to Max to stop fiddling with his tie - the two of them stepped out of the car and made their way to the bank.

"Max, you're staring," Rachel muttered to her partner once they had entered the building. All around them was expensive-looking paintings and other furnishings, high-end cash points, and everyone in the building seemed to have made an effort to wear only their most expensive, high-class clothing.

Max dreaded to wonder exactly how much these people had spent on clothing alone, but cleared the thoughts from his mind as he and Rachel walked up to the nearest empty cash point.

"Hello, how may I help you?" the person at the cash point asked, a wide smile on his face. His name-tag spelled out his name: Lewis Theroux, and he looked about as old as Josh.

"My name is Isabel Cutter-Mattison; this is my husband, Daniel. One of our staff called ahead to request that we would be able to open an account here."

"Of course, if you'll just wait for a moment or two, please." Lewis said, looking over to the computer next to him and typing in a few sentences. "Yes, we have you registered. I'll call through and request for someone to help set up your account with you."

Lewis picked up the phone, dialled a quick four-digit number, and started talking. Max tried his best to remain calm and act like this was all second nature to him. There were barely any people nearby but the whole atmosphere started to become suffocating - he has no idea where the other agents were, who they were, and with the Mercury Brigade expected in the next hour there was no indication of any kind of plan of action.

"Someone will be here in the next few minutes," Lewis said, putting the phone back in its holder. "You're welcome to take a seat in the meantime." He indicated the row of plush chairs near the cash points. Rachel thanked him and walked over to the chairs, grabbing Max's hand and tugging it slightly when he didn't follow her lead.

They hadn't been waiting long when a portly man with a wide smile appeared, briskly walking over to where Max and Rachel were seated. Lewis looked at the man, then back to Max and Rachel, confusion etched on his face.

"Isabel, Daniel, how nice to see you again," the man said, shaking Rachel's hand after she'd had time to stand up. "I trust your parents are well?"

"Very well, thank you, Thomas. How is your daughter?"

"Like a normal six year old," he said, reaching over and shaking Max's hand. "Unfortunately, now isn't the time to chat; we've got business to attend to." The man led Max and Rachel across the floor and towards a series of private meeting rooms, each one with a frosted glass door. Thomas opened the door and allowed Rachel and Max to pass through first, before walking in and closing the door behind him. The back of the room was floor to ceiling glass, blinds rolled up neatly at the top.

"How serious is this threat?" Thomas asked, walking over to the desk and sitting down. The positive demeanour he'd had only moments before had disappeared, only to be replaced by concern.

"We're still unsure of their motives," Rachel said, sitting down and opening her purse. She pulled out a couple of grainy images and passed them over, Max recognizing them as from the Denver robbery. Following her lead, Max sat down next to Rachel.

"They could be coming here to open an account, or they could be coming here in the hopes of getting even more money," Rachel said, and the man groaned as he looked at the image. "Have you informed any of your staff of this?"

"I was under the assumption that it would be better if they didn't know," Thomas said, and all of the information clicked in Max's mind: he was the bank's owner, Thomas Stickler. That explained Lewis' confusion - he'd never seen Max or Rachel before, yet Thomas greeted them like old friends.

"It is," Rachel said. "These two people were spotted in a bank in Denver; they're estimated to arrive in San Francisco within the hour, and we expect them to come to this bank. There are other members who robbed other banks," she added, taking the image and putting it back in her purse, "However, they were all at random points all over the United States. While they all appear to be heading towards California, they all have varying estimated times of arrivals, strengthening the possibility that the group which is headed here will be attempting a robbery."

"They won't get much, even if they attempt to clear out the vault," Thomas said. "This bank only holds a couple of hundred thousand in our vaults; emergency money. Anyone who wishes to withdraw more than ten thousand dollars is requested to make arrangements in advance."

"So you can get the money?" Max said, and Thomas looked at him.

"Partly, but mostly because the IRS tracks large transfers of money; the movement of a sum of money larger than ten thousand is likely to be traced by them on both departure and arrival, unless the money is going in to an offshore account. For someone to withdraw a large sum of money, we would both need to arrange to get the money - if they wanted a cash withdraw - and to also notify the IRS of the situation."

Max started to tune the conversation between Thomas and Rachel out; not because it was unimportant, but because he felt completely out of his depth. Instead, he focused on listening out for any unusual sounds coming from the entrance and hallway - he noted that the sounds were more muffled than normal, although it shouldn't have come as a surprise that they would be using soundproofing in the rooms; they did have multi-millionaires discussing confidential bank and monetary details, after all.

"Daniel," Rachel said, bringing Max's attention back to the conversation at hand. He looked at Rachel and saw a questioning look in her eyes. _Did you hear something?_

He shook his head slightly before the two of them looked at Thomas. "How long does it usually take to set up an account?" Max asked.

"It depends on the type of account, whether someone wishes to deposit money by check or cash, and how many questions they ask," Thomas said with a slight smile. "I have had some of my staff be in a room, conversing with potential customers, and have been in there for half the day working out all the details and concerns."

"So we can stay here as long as we need to?" Max asked, and Thomas nodded. "That's -"

Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of a gun being fired; Max was the first to react, rushing for the door and yanking it open, looking out in to the hallway.

A group of about six Mercury Brigade members were standing in the middle of the hallway, one of which had a gun pointed up towards the ceiling. Everyone else had either frozen where they were standing, or were being yelled at to lay down by other members of the group. All of the Mercury Brigade members had loose black clothing on, covering their entire body save for their head. On their heads were what seemed to be hastily-constructed pull-over masks with a long purple stripe starting from the nose and extending upwards, bisecting their forehead and extending onto their skull. All of them had holsters attached to their belts, and save for what appeared to be the leader all of the holsters were holding guns.

"That's not good," Berto said, making Max jump; he'd almost forgotten that Berto had been watching the events from Del Oro.

The person in the centre of the hallway fired his gun again. "Everyone, on the floor. NOW! You two, search the rooms," he added, looking over his shoulder to a couple of his teammates.

Cursing under his breath, Max slammed the door shut and turned to the other two people in the room. "They're here - six of them, all armed. Two of them are headed this way, searching the rooms," Max said, and Thomas went pale. "Where's backup?" Max said, confusing Thomas.

"They've been sent out, but it'll take them a while to get here."

"How long?"

"Twenty, thirty minutes at the quickest."

"They'll be gone by then," Max said, turning around and opening the door. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of movement. "Isabel, you're staying here."

"I was already suspecting that you'd say something like that," Rachel said.

"Do you have a gun?" Max said, and Rachel shook her head. "All right, you need to stay here; make sure Mister Stickler stays safe."

Max slipped out of the room, closing the door and twisting the doorknob so far to the left that the handle broke, effectively locking Rachel and Thomas in the room. Behind the door, Max could hear that Rachel had ordered Thomas behind the desk.

Inside the room, Rachel took up guard near the door; she could make out figures on the other side of the frosted glass, and watched as Max walked down towards where the Mercury Brigade members were.

Max came to a halt near where the private meeting rooms met the hallway, looked around and silently muttered a curse. Most of the customers and employees had been lined up against the far wall, tangential to the entrance of the bank. Lewis was one of those who was kneeling on the ground, hands behind his head, and looked with some confusion at the fact that Max was there on his own. The leader looked around to where Lewis was looking, seeing Max there.

"Kneel on the ground, now!" the lead member yelled at Max, pointing his gun towards him. Max obliged, putting his hands behind his head and kneeling down. "You, check him," the leader said to one of his team members, who practically dived towards Max and started patting him down in a search for weapons.

"He's clean," the person said, looking back towards the leader. Turning back towards Max, he said, "Turn out your pockets."

To try and ensure that Max wouldn't attempt to do anything risky, the Mercury Brigade member kept his gun pointed at Max while he emptied his pockets; scattering the contents onto the floor in front of him, Max tossed out his wallet, the fake credit cards he and Rachel had been given, and a piece of paper with information of the bank on it. The robber scooped up the items and walked back to the leader, handing the items to him.

"Mister Daniel Cutter-Mattison," the leader read from the credit card, looking at Max with some interest. "For someone who looks so young, you certainly seem to have an abundance of credit cards at your disposal. Put him with the others," he yelled at the nearest team member.

"Back-up's ten minutes away," Berto said as Max was shoved amongst the other hostages, Max noting the concern in his voice. Give him a super-powered enemy and he could take them down in an instant; normal people with guns, however, were a different matter, especially if you factored in that metal-faced mutants were unlikely to attempt to rob a bank in broad daylight.

"This one's locked!" Max's head jerked up as one of the robbers yelled from down the hallway; he was one of the people who had been sent to clear out the meeting rooms, and had apparently just reached the one in which Rachel and Thomas were secured.

"Shoot it open!" the leader yelled back, growling as he turned to look at the hostages they already had control over. Max quickly ducked his head and made to look as if the floor had been the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

Max winced as he heard two shots fired off in quick succession, followed by the sound of a hard object ramming the glass. Chancing a look, he could just about see the robbers using the butt of their guns to break down the now-weakened glass of the door. With an almighty crashing sound, they broke through the glass and one of the robbers stepped through the glass, pushing Rachel and then Thomas through the broken door. The other robber escorted them down the hallway, halting them at the cash points and patted down Thomas.

"No point checking you for weapons," the robber said, giving a slight leer at Rachel. To her credit, she kept her gaze focused on the middle distance, not even a slight flinch indicating that she had even heard what he'd said.

"Seven minutes."

"All those of you," the leader said, waving his gun above the heads of the hostages, "Those who have bags, open them and take everything out, now!"

Panicked, Max looked towards Rachel, but noticed that somewhere along the lines, she had dumped her handbag. He'd also noted that her necklace was long gone. Catching each others' eyes, Rachel's quickly glanced towards the meeting rooms. Message transferred: she'd left hers in the meeting room.

One of the robbers shoved Rachel and Thomas over to where the rest of the hostages were, and Rachel settled down next to Max. She glanced down the row of hostages, and saw a number of people opening and emptying their bags, revealing not much more than money, cards, keys, and various other items.

"Five minutes."

"Nice," the leader said, pacing up and down the row of hostages. He bent down and picked up a set of car keys that, Max assumed, belonged to one of the cars parked outside. "A Lamborghini; I was curious as to see who owned this car," he added, slipping the keys into a back pocket. He continued down the line and, seeing nothing else of interest, started to walk away.

"Three minutes."

Max stayed stoic and his expression neutral as the leader continued walking along the row of hostages, picking up random items of interest.

"They're on the road leading up to the bank; they're about half a mile away. They can see a couple of guards posted at the entrance to the parking lot, they appear to be turning people away. They're -"

Whatever Berto was going to say next was cut off by a screech of tyres, followed by the sounds of something hitting the ground. All of the hostages, as well as the robbers, turned to look at the door, and Max took that as his chance.

"Don't!" Rachel yelled, but it was far too late: all her exclamation did was alert the robbers to what was about to happen.

Max sprang for the nearest robber, pulling him down to the ground with a satisfying thunk, and he grabbed the gun which had skittered from the robber's hands when he hit the ground. A quick check to see that the safety was on, and Max slid the gun over to Rachel.

"Get him!" the leader yelled, turning his gun on one of the hostages. A couple of his teammates rushed forwards, hands reaching for their guns, but two shots from behind Max floored them. Max snagged the guns from the holsters, sliding another one back towards Rachel, and keeping one for himself.

Behind the leader, Max could see the familiar dark black and blue INTEC uniforms, and half a dozen agents. One was securing the two lookouts, another two were patrolling the parking lot, and the other three…

Max rushed towards the leader, landing a solid blow on the man's shoulder, but did little to displace him.

"Get everyone away from the door!" Max yelled over his shoulder as he grappled with the robbers' leader, but didn't wait to see if Rachel was going to be following his command. Turning the gun around in his hand, he raised it above his head in preparation to slam it against the leader's temple, but a searing, fiery pain stopped him in his tracks.

It was only after he looked down and saw his suit beginning to be dyed red that he recognized the gunshot from a few seconds before. Gritting his teeth, he dropped the gun to the floor and began to back off, a hand instinctively going towards his waist. The leader smirked, certain that he had controlled the situation.

"You've not won," Max managed to say, and the smirk was replaced by a look of confusion. Max's focus drifted to behind the leader, and he looked behind him to see controlled explosives had been quickly affixed on all four corners of the entrance to the bank. The leader only had a few seconds to step away before the detonation was started, and the doors were blown inwards.

Thankfully, Rachel had gotten everyone out of the way quickly enough, and the only person caught in the small blast was the robbers' leader. He hadn't been injured; just knocked unconscious from the blast, and a look of relief crossed Max's face when the INTEC agents, guns drawn, cautiously made their way into the building.

"You're an idiot," Rachel hissed as she appeared at Max's side.

"Hey," he said, breathing heavily. "You didn't have a gun; how else were we supposed to take them down?"

Rachel was about to answer when someone called out her name, and the two of them looked towards the bank entrance to see a concerned-looking Jake Nez standing there.

"When you get caught up in something, you really get caught up," Jake said as he looked at Max, before switching his gaze to Rachel. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Rachel said. "Unlike someone, I decided to stay out of danger." Jake quickly grinned before radioing in for medical help.

"We don't know what they would have started doing to the hostages," Max said in response to Rachel. "Chances are, they would have at least attempted to injure the hostages if they had seen that someone was trying to break in."

"A medical van is on its way," Jake said, interrupting the conversation. "How is it?"

"Painful," Max said, moving his hand away from his waist. His hand was coated in blood, but the wound seemed to have slowed bleeding, if not stopped entirely. "It feels like it's getting better, though."

"Well, either way, kid, you're heading to the hospital. It should be a quick check-over, get the wound dressed, and then we can request a transfer to Del Oro." Almost as soon as Jake stopped talking, a dark green van pulled up in front of the bank, and a woman got out. She glanced around and, seeing Jake beckoning her over, she carefully walked in to the bank.

''Nother injured newcomer?" she asked upon seeing Max. He nodded and she sighed, starting to lead him out of the bank. Max let himself be led out of the bank and into the van. "You'll be back in Del Oro in no time."

[ - ]

The medic was true to her word, and Max was back at INTEC not more than an hour after the rest of the INTEC agents who had been positioned in San Francisco had arrived back. Unfortunately, his arrival back at INTEC meant that he was now confined to the medical ward for observation for the next twenty-four hours - he did consider that at least it'd give him a while to think of a good excuse to give to Laura.

"Hey, Steel, taking visitors?" Kat asked as she peered around the door to Max's room, and quickly slid in and sat down on the nearest chair without waiting for an answer. "So, Rachel told me you tried to take on six armed guys on your own."

"I wasn't on my own."

"Not from the way Rachel told it," Kat said, leaning her chair back. "Word is you tried to take them down when your back-up was only a couple of minutes away from being able to help."

"I needed to distract them; we didn't know what they'd do if they saw people attempting to blow the door out."

_Thunk._ Max looked to his right to see Kat's clenched fist on the side table, a dark expression on her face.

"So, instead you risked your life on a maybe? Had any of them actually pointed their weapons against anyone?"

"Me."

"Did they point their weapons at anyone _other than you_? Had they fired their guns at anyone _other than you_?"

Silence.

"Steel, I'm expecting an answer."

"No, they didn't. But -"

"But _nothing_," Kat said, holding a hand up to silence him. "They thought you were a threat, thus they turned their weapons on you. Most likely they wouldn't have injured any of the hostages, they would have just gone after Nez and the other people in his team."

"You know, you never fail to bitch me out when you think I've done something wrong," Max said, sounding a little petulant.

"it's called cutting through your bullshit." Kat sighed. "Rachel's writing up the mission report for you, she didn't expect you'd feel up to writing it yourself."

"I'm not that injured."

"You may be superhuman, Steel, but you're not invincible. Couple of inches to your right and that shot would have been pretty life-threatening, even with the probes."

"I'm fine."

"You're _lucky._ What makes you so certain that you'll be that lucky next time? You can't keep taking risks on a maybe."

"This coming from someone who routinely takes risks on her missions? Hello Pot," Max said, and Kat rolled her eyes.

"Generally? I don't take needless risks when my backup is thirty seconds away. You can't keep on powering through missions without thinking about the risks." She stood up, adjusted her tank top, and moved to walk out of the room. "It might not be you that gets injured. Think about that the next time you take a risk."

[ - ]

"Hey, Max," Jessica said a few hours later as she passed him in the hallway. "Feeling better?"

"Much," Max said. He'd been unofficially discharged - there was nothing potentially risky that concerned the medical team that he needed to stay in the medical section, but they wanted to ensure he'd be close if needed.

"Berto was pretty concerned," Jessica continued, and Max bit down a groan. Almost everyone he'd seen seemed to have the need to caution him on how dangerous what he'd done was, and how much worse it could have gone. "It's not an easy thing to watch someone and know you can't do anything about it."

"I guess I owe Berto an apology."

"No guesses, you _definitely_ owe Berto an apology," Jessica said sternly.

"What is it with the women in this place?" Max muttered to himself, and when Jessica looked at him, confused, he added, "All right, I'll apologize to Berto." He started to walk away, then paused and turned to look at Jessica. "Who's in charge of the aliases for missions?"

"Uh, Tara Dunlop is, why?"

"Can you pass on a message for me? Can you ask her to try and avoid married couple covers for myself and Rachel in the future?"

Jessica smiled briefly, before she forced a neutral expression on her face. "Of course. I can't guarantee that she'll follow through with it, but I will tell her."

"Thanks," Max said, continuing to walk down the hallway. "Working late, Chuck?" Max asked, having spotted the janitor mopping the hallway.

"At INTEC, there's no such thing as 'working late'," Chuck said gruffly. "You're either working, or you're not working."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to realize that," Max said. "I've gotta go talk to Berto, I'll see you around."

"See ya, Kid." As soon as Max was out of enhanced ear-shot, Chuck turned to look at Jessica. "His father was exactly like him; he'll mellow out before too long."

"And if he doesn't?" Jessica said, looking concerned.

"I don't want to think about it."


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: So this now officially marks me posting new chapters once a week. I'm also planning on starting to do chapter analyses on Redux to explain why I did what I did, why I did what I didn't do. Find it on my tumblr, uk-advantageous, under the tag "redux chapter analysis".

Chapter Fifteen:

"Cheng and Sophia are positioned on the west side of the building. Guards patrolling with a thirty-second gap in the pass in front of the room."

Rachel looked up from her position on the ground, just able to discern a dark figure climbing up the outside one of the numerous tall buildings dotted across the nearby roads. As she watched, the figure slowly but steadily continued their ascent, and after a few moments static crackled over her comms. link.

"Plenty of time," Peter Hugins commented, his more casual Birmingham accent standing in stark contrast to Rachel's. He paused and afforded himself a quick glance over his shoulder at the Shanghai skyline, seeing the brilliant lights and neon signs extending before him. He mentally counted up how many floors he was on; just approaching the fifteenth by his count. He resumed his climb, soon reaching the seventeenth floor and their intended goal.

Twisting around, he grabbed the zipper on his bag and yanked it open, being mindful to keep a good grip on the glass with the adhesive glove on his other hand. He reached into his bag and pulled out a glass cutter, sticking it to the window a small distance away from him and activating it. A small spike pressed against the glass, slowly cutting through it with a seemingly too-loud grating noise, and Peter looked around to check no one was near enough to hear.

"Castle, perimeter check," Peter called, returning his gaze to the glass cutter.

"Guards making a sweep by, Odin."

Peter gritted his teeth as he watched the cutter slowly progress, hoping that the sound wasn't loud enough for them to hear. He had a zip line in his bag in case of emergency, but it was just that: _emergency_. They needed this disc, and they needed it quickly.

"Guards retreating," Rachel commented a couple of minutes later, and Peter let out a sigh of relief. The glass cutter finally finished cutting through and he carefully pushed the circular section into the room, sliding through when the gap was big enough. He took a quick glance around the room, noting nothing of interest, before sliding the glass panel out from the cutter and putting the cutter back in his bag.

The safe was on the right wall, very large and ostentatious, taking up the whole of the side of the room. There wasn't really much else to the room; a couple of living room type chairs and a simple desk with some papers on top. Peter gave a quick look at the papers before moving to stand in front of the safe, frowning at it slightly. The keypad was on the left-hand side and, still keeping his gloves on, he ran a finger over the top of it, activating it with a series of beeps.

_ACCESS CODE?_

Peter gave a half-smirk as he quickly typed in the last numbers he had been given, but almost as soon as he pressed the last button a loud, blaring alarm started up. He jerked backwards, eyes darting around the room; a metal grate quickly descended in front of both the safe and the door leading to the hallway. Cursing to himself, he dashed back over to his bag, pulled out the grappling hook and pointed it through an undamaged window. He closed one eye, focusing on finding a target - there, the roof of that building across the street - and fired. The hook shot through the window, shattering the glass, and zoomed across the road to the building opposite.

For one heart-pounding second the grappling hook skittered over the rooftop as it was recalled, struggling to find purchase. It finally caught on the lip of the roof and Peter experimentally pulled on the wire, checking that it was taught.

"Get it open!" someone yelled, and Peter afforded himself another look over his shoulder; a man, Cheng, he presumed, his face twisted in anger as he looked through the open door (still protected by the grate) at Peter. He resisted the urge to show any emotion, simply grabbing his bag and tossing it across the wire, making a makeshift zip line hangar. He lent back, took a deep breath, and pushed off.

Small nicks appeared on his arms and sides as he brushed through the glass, the sharp points scoring at him. He held on as tight to his bag as he could, mentally hoping that it stayed together long enough to avoid sending him plummeting onto the streets seventeen storeys below.

He was about halfway across when the wire started to bend dangerously, slowly lowering Peter towards the ground. He glanced up; the grappling hook was slowly slipping away from the lip of the roof. A glance back in front of him showed he was veering dangerously close to the windows, and he did the only thing he thought reasonable at the time.

He let go of the bag with one hand, momentum sending him crashing through a window.

He winced as he ducked and rolled, feeling numerous pinpricks of pain as yet more glass cut through his clothing and skin; some bits of glass stayed embedded as he moved around, making him a little more cautious once he stopped rolling and got to his feet.

Mental check: hands okay, feet fine, head...Peter pulled off a glove and his mask before experimentally rubbing his hand against his skull, drawing it back to look at it. No blood, but there was a fair amount of glass covering his mask. He tossed the mask to the ground, opening up a comms channel to Rachel.

"Castle, may have an issue. Retrieval failed, Cheng has likely IDed me."

He heard a few muttered sounds from Rachel's end, but not anything he could specifically make out. He took a quick glance around the room, finding it almost as empty as Cheng's safe room, and made his way over to the door. The lock was engaged but after a few solidly-placed kicks, the wood around it buckled and broke enough for Peter to pull the door open. Pausing again, he checked around the corridor to ensure no one was coming to investigate, and then set off to look around for an elevator.

Quickly finding one, he descended to the ground floor, still with various shards of glass all over him.

"Castle, rendezvous back at base."

[ - ]

Peter winced as he raised his arm upon request; he'd brushed against a shard of glass embedded in his side, causing it to move and cause him more pain. He'd immediately been sent over to the medical wing for a check-up and glass removal, and was trying to be patient as the last of the glass was removed.

The nurse attending to him didn't even seem to notice his movement, instead keeping her eyes focused on the next shard of glass, the ones she's already pulled out starting to pile up in the container next to her, each shard dropping in with a cheery _plink_. A dab of cotton after each piece was pulled out, occasionally accompanied by a light smear of an antiseptic wipe and dab cream or some-such - thankfully none of the wounds had seemed large enough to need anything more than basic first-aid kit items.

"All done," she said in a light accent, and Peter breathed a sigh of relief. She began talking over medical care, instructing that someone would write him a prescription for antibiotics and what-not, but Peter wasn't really listening. As soon as he was able he slipped his shirt back on and made his way out of the medical wing, meeting up with Rachel in one of the numerous relaxing rooms; she had been sitting on a sofa and staring out into the middle distance but turned her attention to Peter as he approached.

"All checked out okay," he said, and Rachel nodded. Wordlessly, she got up from her seat and the two began to head through the corridors of INTEC's Shanghai base, pausing after a short while and heading into a meeting room where one person was already waiting.

"Ah, good to see you, Hugins," Jian Zhou said. Peter nodded in response and sat down before Jian spoke again, Rachel also slipping in to a nearby seat and looking attentive. "What's the status of Seraph?"

Peter looked uncomfortable at that question; Rachel responded in his stead.

"Seraph is still in the hands of Cheng and the Cyberdragons. Attempts at recovering it...failed. We suspect that Cheng made Peter, and quite likely that he may have made me as well."

Jian 'hmm'ed, looking between Peter and Rachel. He rubbed his chin, eyes growing distant and the room falling silent, the slow whir of the air conditioning being the only thing heard by them.

"We cannot afford another break-in attempt; likely Cheng had called to reinforce his office the moment you escaped, Hugins. This does now mean we've lost our only easy access to the disc." Jian turned to look at Peter. "What news do we have on the planned auction?"

"Nothing extensive," Rachel said, and Jian turned his attention to her. "Details are sparse as we did not expect to need to know much about it; we were hoping that the break-in would have secured us the disc.

"Given our suspicions, neither Hugins nor I should go as there's a strong chance we've been compromised. If either of us stepped foot on the boat we would in all likelihood be immediately captured."

"Are there any other agents we can call in for this mission? We do not have too many resources here at our disposal."

"Perhaps," Rachel said. "Excuse me; I'm going to need to make a phone call." She calmly got up from her seat and walked out of the room.

[ - ]

"You want me to...wait, run that by me again." Josh paused in his pacing across the hotel room to listen intently to just what Rachel was telling him. Codified and in layered terms so that only someone with a lot of knowledge would understand what she was saying, but also ensured that Josh had a reasonable possibility of getting a headache trying to decipher it.

"Uh-huh," he said as Rachel finished, silence on the line as Josh let it all sink in. "You do know I'm meant to be attending a wedding while here, right?"

"Believe me, I wouldn't have called you if I saw we had any other reasonable options. You're in Shanghai, local, and we already know you."

"Why not fly out someone else?" Josh said, turning and glancing out of the window. Twenty storeys up there were almost dazzling sights of the city, although there were a few similarly-tall buildings nearby which towered into the sky and blocked out part of what would otherwise be an impressive view. The sun had set a couple of hours ago, leaving the illumination of the city to the varied neon lights around.

"I doubt we would have the time to pick an available agent, fly them over, and get them inducted into the mission with the needed information, all before the scheduled event." Rachel sighed. "Frankly, I wish there was another way we could do this but it doesn't look like it. You are the only option we currently have."

"I don't like this," Josh said automatically before silence descended again. He turned and walked towards the almost floor to ceiling window, peering out into the vibrant, bustling city. A few seconds ticked by, Josh hearing each one from the small clock on the opposite side of the room, before he spoke again.

"All right, I'll head in. Just...give me some time to make up a decent excuse to Laura, alright?"

[ - ]

"Nice place," Max muttered to himself as the doors to INTEC's Shanghai branch slid open. Like the rest of the area, the building was new and shiny, a few neon placards around, one of which indicated its use as a branch of N-Tek's international offices. Max nodded at the receptionist on hand, noting that she seemed to be finishing up her work for the day, piling up papers and turning to shut her computer down.

"You found us, then," Rachel said as she appeared in the reception area, heading towards Max. "No difficulties in your trip?"

"None yet," Max muttered. Rachel turned around and began to head back the way she came, Max following her.

"Your cover is relatively simple; your father pulled you in to investigate one of INTEC's manufacturing plants and designs. China is, after all, a large potential market, even for things like extreme sports."

"Yeah, well, this better hadn't take up too much of my time. I'd promised Laura I'd be around for all the important things, and that includes more than just the day of the wedding itself."

Rachel simply nodded and turned left down into another corridor, stopping quickly part-way down and opening the nearest door.

"Max Steel," Rachel said by way of introduction as the two stepped through the doorway, Rachel closing the door behind them. Max gave a quick greeting to Peter Hugins who was holding a couple of rolls of paper, and waited for an introduction to the other person in the room.

"Jian Zhou," the other person said, also receiving a nod from Max. "Is this all?"

"Yes."

"Then let's get started." At Jian's nod, Peter put down the rolls of paper onto the desk in front of him, rolling out the first one. On it, blue paper with quick white sketch marks: a hastily constructed blueprint. Max scanned the paper quickly, easily committing it to memory, and after a moment the design clicked: a cruise ship.

"Honghui Cheng's ship, the Haihu Hao. Normally moored further up the country, it's been brought out as the setting for a very private auction, one only people personally vetted by him can attend.

"Cheng and the Cyberdragons will be auctioning off Seraph, a super-decryption software program. Developed jointly by the NSA, MI-6, and other organisations it went missing a number of months ago. Only by chance did we find out about who was behind the theft, and also their intentions to auction it off."

Peter paused, pulling out another one of the papers and laying it on top of the first. "We have intelligence working with us, deep in Cheng's organisation, and it's thanks to their help that we have this much information. Cheng will be directing the auction from a private room here." Peter indicated with a point of his finger. "The auction will be remote, people linking in via satellites which they will have been given an access code to. Because of this, the bidders have sent through couriers who will await the results of the auction and, if their employer wins, will be given access to the disc.

Peter pulled off yet another roll of paper. "The couriers we expect will be all along this path here." Once again, he indicated the area with his finger. "Our plan is for you to get on board the ship as a courier, find the disc, and replace it with one our tech team will have given you. You can't take it on board so we will arrange for a drop-off once you're actually on board."

"You'll only have a limited amount of time while the auction is occurring," Rachel said. "Your time on the ship will be limited to the length of the auction or until our bidder drops out. Cheng will have guards patrolling around, so stealth is of the essence."

"Who will the bidder be?" Max said, and everyone in the room fell silent. Berto coughed over the bio-link.

"I, uh, believe that will be me, _hermano_."

"You're kidding me - Berto? Why him?"

"It is simple," Jian said. "Doctor Martinez is no agent; he has no real links to INTEC beyond that of being a scientist for the organization. Our intelligence agent has already vetted him - they will also vet you at the appropriate time when notified - and there is very little chance that INTEC will be implicated if this does not go as we have expected or anticipated."

"Doctor Martinez will not be in the auction on his own; he will have another agent there guiding his actions, albeit hidden away so that Cheng and the other potential bidders will not be able to see him. We have prepared for every eventuality we can reasonably think of." Rachel paused and looked at Peter and Jian, both of whom simply looked back at her.

"Well, it all sounds so simple," Max said. "Let's get to it then."

[ - ]

The fact that the auction was scheduled that evening was a mild relief to Josh; at the very least it meant that he and Laura had some free time to just relax and enjoy the sights of Shanghai.

Josh passed by another display case, glancing back and scanning over to find a note informing him of what the item specifically was - Laura had suggested a trip to Shanghai History Museum and Josh had agreed, although barely a third of the way through and his enthusiasm was faltering.

Laura meandered over to see what Josh was looking at, taking a quick glance herself before moving on; she had already glanced over most of the items in the room, turning to the more in-depth information as she waited for Josh to make his way across the room.

"It's a shame you have to do some work while you here," she said as Josh moved to stand next to her, the two of them looking down at one of the display cabinets. Josh briefly read the quick information on display, Laura offering a bit more information and background on it.

"I...it can't be helped," Josh said, hoping that he sounded sympathetic. "It was unexpected news to me. I'll need to be out this evening."

Laura didn't answer for a while, making Josh a little nervous. She softly sighed before moving on to the next item.

"I guess not. It would be nice to spend some time with my brother without you around, just the two of us talking. We haven't really been in contact much for a good few years."

Josh winced. "I don't know what he has against me; we've just never really gotten on."

"I know," Laura said, smiling softly at Josh. "Now come on, there's an exhibit up ahead I want to show you."

[ - ]

Max muttered to himself, fiddling with the knot on his bow tie and trying, desperately, to loosen it. Rachel glanced over her shoulder, face showing no expression but as soon as she caught sight of Max she turned around and grabbed his tie, loosening it and readjusting it.

"Better?" she asked; Max reached up for the tie again, checking it.

"Yeah. You know, this oddly feels like déjà-vu; me all dressed up in a suit, you helping me with a tie. Hope you're not getting too used to this," he said with a smirk, but Rachel ignored him as she was prone to doing.

It wasn't complete déjà-vu - aside from their difference in location (one of the meeting rooms in INTEC's Shanghai building) it was only Max who was dressed up formally. Rachel, instead, was in simple street wear: baby doll t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers, all items Max wouldn't have suspected Rachel looked at, let alone owned.

"All ready?" she added, breaking through Max's concentration. "You remember what we've discussed."

"Of course." Max fiddled with the bow tie one last time before stepping out of the room.

[ - ]

The view of Shanghai was no less intimidating down by the dock; looking in the right direction, it could even be said to be even more imposing with the towering buildings and neon lights reflecting into the harbour making the city seem a lot larger than it was. Max glanced over to his right, seeing where the harbour started to lead out to the East China sea, a few speckled lights dotted around, indicating the presence of ships of various sizes and purposes.

The low, droning sound of an engine caught his attention but he counted off the seconds before looking in its direction, estimating the length of time it would take for an average person to notice such a sound. He looked around, seeing a new light in the middle distance and approaching quickly: a small speedboat, the bare minimum of lights and only one person aboard.

The man piloting the boat pulled up beside the harbour and barely even seemed to notice Max as the boat slowed to a stop. The man hopped out and quickly tied the boat to the harbour before walking over to Max, seeming to give him a quick once-over to check if he looked threatening, before looking over at the Shanghai skyline.

"The lights are bright tonight."

"But the world is still in darkness."

A small smile appeared on the man's face for a scant second before disappearing, and he gestured for Max to get into the boat. Once settled, the man untied the speedboat from the harbour and began to pilot it back towards the cruise ship. With little else to do Max settled in and watched as they grew closer to the various ships, trying to make out the different designs and expected purposes.

Surprisingly, before too long the speedboat pulled up to one of the nearer large ships, and the driver angled the boat as close to what looked like a transparent tube. As the speedboat settled, a small platform began to descend and as soon as it was about sea level, the driver nodded towards it.

Max took a cautious step off the boat and onto the platform; barely after he was settled and standing the platform began to rise up at a reasonable rate, soon depositing him on the top deck of the boat. The doors opened silently and he stepped off the platform and quickly looked around. The upper deck was almost deserted, with just a couple of people around and a portable scanner which looked rather hastily constructed around a short, enclosed tunnel.

One of said people walked up to Max, a small digital tablet in his hands.

"Name?"

"Andrew Simmons, courier for Antonio Rodriguez."

"Rodriguez?" the guard asked, finger flicking up as he scrolled through the list of people. "I have never - my apologies, you are on the list. Sophia personally vetted you." The guard spread his arms wide, beckoning Max forward. Max stepped forwards confidently, faltering a little when he approached the scanner.

"Security reasons, you understand," the other guard said, who before he spoke had yet to move or do anything. It was a pure statement rather than a question. "You will need to step through."

Max did as asked, quickly stepping through the scanner and keeping his eyes focused on the distance, acting as if it wasn't anything that bothered him. He faltered slightly as he passed through, eyes flicking over to the guards for a split-second, but he saw no reaction on their faces, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he stepped out of the scanner.

"What's that on your wrist?"

Well, almost nothing.

"This? N-Tek's latest time piece. Waterproof down to a depth of more than a thousand feet, proper diver's watch, practically indestructible, linked to bio-rhythms, satellite link-up...you name it, it's probably got it."

The guards simply nodded at his spiel, pressing a button on a computer to the side of the scanner and moving on. One of the guards flanked Max and they moved on towards one of the doors heading inwards, the other guard catching up fairly quickly and flanking Max on the other side.

The cabins for the couriers were on the fifth floor down, Max recalled, and the guards seemed focused on letting him take the long, scenic route down. Numerous paintings dotted the wall, with the occasional statue or sculpture positioned in very noticeable spots, all of which gave Max a very good excuse as to why he was looking around. One of the guards noticed where Max's attention was, and chuckled to himself.

"Many of the works here are originals - the more expensive ones we keep safely locked away in specially climate-controlled rooms. We always have our eye on acquiring new items, but sadly a lot command a price we can't afford, or the owner is simply not interested in selling."

_No way these guys are getting this stuff legitimately; more likely they commission thefts and the price they charge is too high. That or the items are unstealable._ Max continued to occasionally glance around at where they had come from - floor four and he already had a good person's eye view of the path back up to the top deck of the ship.

They finally hit the fifth floor down, the guards leading Max over to a nondescript door and quickly unlocking it. Before they opened it, one of the guards turned around to look back at Max.

"For safety reasons, you will remain in this cabin for the duration of the auction. We will come back for you when the auction ends or Mister Rodriguez drops out of the bidding." The guard opened the door, ushering Max in. The cabin looked to be reasonably typical high-end cruise liner fare: recess with a sofa and a television, a small table and chair set with a phone on the table, and a large double bed.

"The phone will connect you down to the kitchen if you would like anything to eat or drink while the auction is ongoing."

"I'll keep that in mind," Max said with a fake smile. The two guards took their leave, walking out of the cabin and shutting the door behind them. With a soft click, the lock engaged.

[ - ]

The external elevator zoomed up the side of the ship once more, the doors opening and a slim figure walked out. She held a half-smirk on her face as she looked around, long black hair tied up in a careful plait.

"Name?"

"Faina May-Ling. Courier for John Dread." The guard checked her name and confirmed her clearance before she was escorted part-way across the top deck of the ship, the guards requesting her to step through the scanner.

"I have nothing to hide," she said, stepping confidently through the machine. As expected, nothing abnormal was highlighted on the computer and she was escorted down to her cabin. She kept her eyes front and her gaze focused, never veering off to look at any of the art or sculptures dotted around.

"This will be your cabin for the duration of the auction," one of the guards said, before opening the door and allowing Faina to step through. "You will be here until the auction is over or Mister Dread drops out of the bidding. The phone will connect you down to the kitchen in case you would like something to eat or drink during the auction."

The guards backed out of the cabin, and as soon as the door closed and the lock engaged, Faina smiled to herself.

[ - ]

A scowl on his face, Cheng paced across almost the entire length of the room, hitting the wall and doubling back, the scowl deepening further.

"Where _is_ that woman?" he muttered as he passed by a couple of his guards, not bothering to even glance up to see their reactions. He knew what they would be, what they _should_ be. "I want her beside me, looking beautiful."

"I'm sure -"

Cheng whirled around, grabbing the hand of the guard who had spoken. A quick flick of his wrist, a _snap_ echoing slightly around the room, a yell of pain from the guard. The guard collapsed to one knee, holding his now-broken little finger. Cheng simply looked down at him.

"I despise people who interrupt me," he said, gesturing to one of the other guards in the room. "Take him to the medical area. Be quick; I need you back here before the auction starts."

The second guard nodded, helping the first up from the floor and leading him out of the room. Cheng watched them leave, his expression still not changing from the scowl.

"That woman had better be here soon."

Cheng looked back at the wall of monitors in front of him, all of them currently dark. A small light was underneath each one, all of those also turned off; activity lights, indicating whether a potential bidder was connected in.

Before too long the second guard scurried back, resuming his place at the back of the room, and Cheng's scowl faded a minute amount. A short time after that some of the lights underneath the screens began to switch on, although the screens themselves stayed dark. Cheng moved to position himself in front of the quickly-built auctioneer's podium, his scowl changing to a wide smile as he settled himself in.

As soon as the last of the lights flicked on, Cheng pressed a button on the screen embedded into the podium, all of the bidder's screens turning on at the same instant. Cheng glanced over the faces of the people who'd be bidding that evening, and his smile grew even wider. Twenty-two people all bidding for the same item; he hoped that a little competition would push the price a little bit higher than anticipated.

"Greetings, gentlemen. I'm pleased to see you all here and present for our auction this evening. Your couriers have all arrived and been settled, all that remains is for the auction to start."

Cheng glanced down at his screen, pressing a couple of buttons and watching as the information shifted to that of all the bidders, simply named bidder 1 to bidder 22, and the amounts they had previously bided.

"The item on sale is a decryption program created under the code name Seraph. We all know its importance and abilities, so I will simply start the bidding off at ten million dollars, American."

The gavel hit a small, raised wooden section on the podium, and the bidding started. A few quick bids flowed in from various bidders, quickly driving the price up to fifteen million. Bidders seven, twelve, nineteen and twenty-two initially remained bid-free; bidder twelve jumped in after a few moments and increased the price from eighteen to twenty million, bidder seven dropped out at that price, but nineteen and twenty-two stayed silent.

Twenty-two million, and bidder one dropped out.

Thirty million, bidders four, ten, and thirteen disappeared.

Fifty million, bidders two, six, eleven, eighteen, twenty, and twenty-one left.

By the time the auction was heading towards eighty million, only six bidders were left: three, five, twelve, fourteen, seventeen, and twenty-two.

[ - ]

Berto swallowed nervously, watching as the amount of money slowly but steadily crept up. The auction price hit eighty million, and Berto glanced over at Matthew Park, but the other agent stayed calm and gave no indication one way or the other, simply keeping his eye on the screen.

Bidder five - a man who looked to be in his late forties, oddly wearing dark sunglasses despite being in a room lit with artificial light - jumped in with a bid, pushing the value up to ninety million. Bidder fourteen - an old man with thin, grey hair - jumped in with their first bid, ninety-five million. Bidder five countered with another bid, putting the total at a round one hundred million.

Berto leaned over slightly and pressed a button, muting any sounds that may have been transmitted through into the auction room - their agent had said there shouldn't, but Berto was anxious enough to not want to leave anything to chance. He settled back into his seat, pressing another button which froze the footage he was seeing and started up a loop of what was being transmitted.

"_Hermano_, footage has been looped. You're clear to go," Berto half-whispered. He quickly unpaused the footage, seeing the newest bid flood in; the auction was now at one hundred and twenty million, and bidder seventeen - a middle-aged, brown haired woman - had dropped out.

"Keep it up," Matthew muttered quietly to Berto before the latter unmuted the transmission.

[ - ]

Max glanced up at the ceiling, doing his best to make it look casual. He scanned along until he saw a small, dark bulge against the off-white of the ceiling, and zooming in closer he could see the minute details on it, all the way up to the microscopic writing etched onto its rim. Taking note of where the camera would be recording, Max stood up, stretching out his back and glancing around the room.

He walked around the table, past the end of the sofa, and out towards the window. He barely glanced out, instead looking up towards the camera once again. He doubled back, heading towards the door of the cabin, and took a steadying breath.

"Here's hoping."

A rush of energy swept over him and he reached for the doorknob, grabbing it and twisting it in one fluid movement. A _crack_ indicated the lock breaking, and a few seconds later Max was able to open the door and quickly glance outside. He deactivated turbo and activated stealth, closing the door quietly behind him and beginning to sneak out into the corridors of the ship.

He proceeded cautiously, making each step forward as quiet as he could. He also concentrated on his breathing, ensuring that was as quiet as it could be as well. While that slowed him down a lot, it did mean that people weren't drawn towards random sounds occurring from nowhere.

Max turned the corner, backing up a step when he saw two guards standing idly by, each of them with a small gun holstered. One had his eyes almost closed while the other simply looked bored; Max crept past the two of them, sneaking along slowly until he was confident they wouldn't hear anything and sped up slightly.

He passed another few guards before finally hitting a stairwell; his initial escort down had been reasonably quick and he hadn't noticed just how far he was away from the stairs. He hit the bottom step, taking them cautiously, pausing at the bend and checking up to make sure no one was heading in the opposite direction.

He hit the next floor, scanning around quickly, and began to head up the next set of stairs. Before too long he reached the door leading out to the deck. He paused, took a breath, and opened the door, stepping out and letting it close behind him.

The salty sea air hit his nose, stinging a little, and he walked over to the edge of the boat. He'd noted where the lifeboats were on his initial visit, but as he drew close he noted a very obvious lack of anyone else nearby.

_Maybe they're just a little late._ Max leaned against the railings, checking his energy levels. Seventy-nine percent; he could afford to stay in stealth for a little while longer. He glanced up, looking at the Shanghai skyline, before craning his neck up to the sky and attempting to make out any of the stars. The lights from the harbour were too bright, though, and he dropped his head back after a few moments of seeing nothing by hazy darkness.

As he waited, the roar of the speedboat engine started up and Max looked down to see the boat, with quite a few people on board. He casually watched the boat leave, mentally tracing its path back to the harbour, then turned his back to the railings and watched the deck.

Some time later, the sound of the speedboat cut through the silent night air again and Max glanced over to see a much emptier speedboat returning. He frowned; the journey from the harbour to the ship had taken him about ten minutes earlier in the day, so a complete return journey meant he had been waiting there for over twenty minutes.

He pushed away from the railings, turning and heading back towards the stairwell. Something wasn't adding up. If his contact hadn't made it to the deck in that time, then something must have happened.

Max yanked the door open, caring less about making noise now. He checked his energy levels - seventy-six percent - and descended the stairs. He kept half a mind on checking for people and causing as little noise as possible; the rest of his mind was focused on pulling up the blueprints he'd been shown the previous day.

Where was the most likely place for his contact to be?

Security room, four floors down. If she wasn't, he'd at least be able to get a good look at what was going on in the rest of the ship.

[ - ]

Berto rubbed the back of his neck, hoping that he wasn't sweating too profusely. Bidder three had also dropped out, leaving just four people remaining in the running. Bidder twelve, a dark-skinned man, put through a bit for one hundred and eighty million, and Berto shot a nervous look towards Matthew.

Again, Matthew was still staying calm, although he had moved from his position standing against the wall to stand a little closer to Berto, keeping an eye on the quickly-moving bids.

A second of silence, then another.

"No more bids?" Berto heard Cheng say, and his eyes went wide. With hurried, trembling fingers Berto typed in an amount, sending it through.

_Bidder twenty-two, $190mil._

Berto collapsed back in his seat as the bidding war ignited yet again, and when he looked over at Matthew the latter gave Berto a small nod. Berto looked back at the screen, slightly alarmed at what he saw: the bidding war was getting more frantic now, with people putting in much larger bids.

Bidder fourteen had immediately jumped in after Berto's bid, putting in an offer for two hundred million; bidder five almost immediately countered that with an offer of two hundred and twenty million; the auction had stalled for a few seconds before bidder twelve had upped the offer to two-forty million, and bidder fourteen had just pushed it up to two hundred and fifty million.

[ - ]

A quick sweep past the security room showed that his contact wasn't there, and he did his best to avoid making any kind of exclamation. The door to the security room was wide open, but there was only one person stationed there, a walkie-talkie by his right elbow.

As almost a last resort, Max decided to go the slow way and search the ship from top to bottom. He retraced his steps all the way up to the deck, glanced out to make sure his contact hadn't turned up by the lifeboats while he was wandering around, and began to search the top floor. He'd made a complete circuit of that floor, then moved down to the second and searched that, finding nothing of interest.

He hit the third floor, stifling a groan of frustration. He admittedly wasn't doing too thorough a job searching, but even with the quick scans he'd been doing it was still taking up way too much time. He scanned around the area near the stairwell before moving off; unlike the fourth floor where all the cabins were, the upper floors were almost completely devoid of people which made searching slightly easier as he could take it at a quicker pace.

He rounded the corner, taking a few quick steps through the corridor, barely glancing at his surroundings. When he was about halfway down, someone stepped into view - a woman wearing a knee-length, deep green dress with brown hair, brown eyes, and a very familiar face.

"Sophia," Max hissed as quietly as he could, looking around at where they were. A cafeteria to the left, a casino to the right. Glancing back up the corridor, Max saw that Sophia had taken a few steps towards him; he quickly turned off stealth, taking two steps into the casino in the same movement.

Sophia reached an arm out, eyes wide; too late, Max realised why. As soon as he stepped through the doorway alarms began to blare and a quick look back at the doorway showed thick metal doors slowly beginning to descend. Sophia dived through the doorway, pushing Max back a step and hissing at him to reengage stealth; he did so, looking around in alarm and a little bit of confusion.

Sophia stood up straight, positioning herself nearabouts where Max had been standing, bowing her head and looking a little downcast. She looked back at Max, motioning for him to stay where he was. The metal door slid into place with a loud _clang_.

"Heat sensors," she said quietly to his unasked question. "The casino, and other parts of the ship, has heat sensors everywhere to stop people accessing areas they're not meant to. It triggers an immediate alarm to the guards."

"Why wasn't I told?"

Sophia looked at him. "You weren't meant to be wandering around." She resumed her prior position and Max stood still, taking stock of everything he could hear. Before too long, Max picked up the sound of multiple heartbeats, the sound growing stronger every second.

"People approaching," he whispered, and Sophia nodded. The two of them fell silent, Max resuming his watch. The metal door began to rise up slowly, only barely faster than at the speed it had descended. When it was up high enough, one of the guards stepped through, doing a double take when he saw Sophia.

"Sophia? When did you come aboard?"

"I'm sorry. I came aboard a while ago. I didn't..."

"Deactivate alarm," the guard said over his shoulder, and a moment later Max heard the sound of presumably the other doors all lifting up. "We don't need to inform Cheng of this...intrusion," the guard said as he turned back to Sophia, and she looked at him in relief. "Come, I'll escort you back to your cabin."

Sophia followed the guard, Max shadowing her the entirety of the way. They didn't have too far to go as Sophia's cabin was apparently on the third floor; the guard informed Sophia to call through if she needed anything and she thanked him before he left.

Max counted off a hundred heartbeats before speaking. "So, what now?"

Sophia reached into one of the folds on her dress, pulling out a CD case a moment later. "Security was tougher than I had anticipated; I didn't have time to deactivate everything. You'll need to swap Seraph out with this." Max took the disc, sliding it into an inside pocket of his jacket. "Infra-red scanners have been deactivated but the laser grid is still there."

"Visible or invisible?"

"Visible; there's no fixed pathway so you'll have to be careful."

Max smirked. "Don't worry, Sophia; Seraph is practically in INTEC's hands."


End file.
